Economic Viability of Photovoltaic Systems in a Rural Community in Brazil

Solar energy can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaic cell technology. It is considered as the technology of the future because it uses the Sun, a clean and inexhaustible source. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the economic viability in energy generation of a photovoltaic system in a rural community in the district of Rio do Salto. The rural community is in the municipality of Cascavel, western region of the state of Paraná, geographical coordinates latitude 25°8'31"S, longitude 53°19'40"W and altitude 781 m. Rio do Salto has regulations of 19 blocks with 241 properties. The evaluated properties belonged to block 11. The project was feasible when the payback period of the investment occurred within the expected photovoltaic system life cycle and if the internal rate of return (IRR) was higher than the minimum attractiveness expected for the project. To ensure the viability of this power generation system, the average consumption over the 12-month period should be higher than the rate of availability of the concessionaire that the owner should pay. This value varied according to the connection type (single-phase: 30 kWh, two-phase: 50 kWh and three-phase: 100 kWh). Property 9 was the only one that did not show conditions for photovoltaic system for not reaching the minimum connection tariff of the concessionaire.