Design and Carbon Credit Evaluation of a Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Power System for Campus Streetlight: Case Study of the University of Uyo Main Campus, Akwa Ibom State

In this paper, the design and carbon credit evaluation of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic (SPV) power system for campus street light, a case study of the University of Uyo main campus at Nsukara Offot in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, is presented. The campus streetlight has a total path length of 3.45 km, a daily energy demand of 144.96 kWh with 1717.2 kWh/m2 yearly solar irradiation on the horizontal plane, and a mean ambient temperature of 24.9 °C. The SPV power system design and determination of the energy yield are done using PVSyst simulation software. The results show that the SPV has yearly energy yield of 51.6 MWh, with performance ratio of 76.9%. Also, a maximum energy yield of 5462 kWh occurred in the month of January, while the lowest energy yield of 3401 occurred in the month of July. Furthermore, the CO2 emission reduction value is 48.0912 tons per year, and this amounts to carbon credit of 1322.51 USD, which is equivalent to 1,005,106.08 Naira. In essence, over one million Naira carbon credit is realized by the installation of the grid-connected SPV power system for the campus streetlight.