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• Techno-economic evaluation of a 20-kW rural solar charging station in Bangladesh. • Performances comparison between pre- and post-commissioning phase results. • Key assessment indicators are LCOE, payback period, and energy management. • Net metering system minimizes excess generation and LCOE. • Sensitivity analysis for getting optimized payback period. This study develops and evaluates the solar-powered electric rickshaw charging station based on experimental data and provides a detailed performance comparison of pre- and post-commissioning phase. The key areas of analysis of this study are: levelized cost of energy, payback period, and energy management. By analyzing the gaps of existing design and pre-commissioning study, this study proposes two alternative systems such as increased battery system and net metering featured system. The results indicate that the existing system achieves an LCOE of 0. 2052/kWh, while generating 51. 2 % excess electricity, thereby revealing significant potential for optimization. To mitigate this inefficiency, two alternative system configurations were assessed: a standalone system with expanded battery capacity (LCOE: 0. 2881/kWh) and a grid-integrated net metering system (LCOE: 0. 07677/kWh). As part of feasibility studies, the payback period of the base system cannot be calculated due to negative annual cash flow. Also, the alternative systems 1 and 2 offer an infeasible payback period of 53 years and 45 years respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis demonstrates that supporting ten electric rickshaws at a competitive fare could yield an annual net profit of 4, 090 with a payback period of 5. 5 years and the current system could generate an annual profit of 4, 370, with a payback period of 6 years with higher dependency on battery storage. A comparative assessment with pre-commissioning simulation results highlights notable discrepancies between projected and actual outcomes, emphasizing the critical role of post-commissioning evaluations in accurately determining the technical and economic viability of solar-powered charging infrastructure in Bangladesh.
Shamim et al. (Thu,) studied this question.