© by PSP Volume 21 – No 8c. 2012 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin 2494 DESIGN AND TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM INSTALLED ON A HOUSE IN XANTHI, GREECE Chrysi Laspidou 1,2, * and Vasilis Charisiou-Kalliantopoulos 3 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece 2 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece 3 Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece ABSTRACT The use of photovoltaic (PV) panels as an alternative energy source has a great potential for countries with high solar potential like Greece. We examined the incentives offered by the Greek government to private consumers for the installation and operation of such a system on their houses—either on the roof, or embodied with building materials for the construction of a house. We used two software packages, PVGIS and PVSYST, specifically de- veloped for the design of PV systems, in order to take into account solar radiation and other meteorological condi- tions for the design of a PV system on a house in Xanthi, Greece. The expected power generation was calculated and was proved to be sufficient to cover the energy needs of the household; the number of panels for roof installation, as well as inclination angle were also specified. An economic analysis (break-even point and external rate of return) of the investment was also conducted, proving that PV in- stallation is a solid investment that is also sustainable and environment-friendly. KEYWORDS: Photovoltaic system; renewable energy source; break-even analysis; external rate of return. 1. INTRODUCTION The amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmos- phere has been rapidly increasing over the last 100 years, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, leading to climate change. People predict that the rapid rise in damage caused by natural disasters over the last 30 years is linked to climate change, and unless the global commu- nity changes the way it uses and generates energy, this proc- ess may completely disrupt the global economy in years to * Corresponding author come. In response to this threat, the UN agreed the Kyoto Protocol in Japan in 1997, which requires industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO 2 and oth- ers) by 5% of 1990 levels by 2008-2012. In its attempt to meet these targets, the European Union has set binding targets on the penetration of the renewable energy sources (RES) in the energy mix until 2020 [1, 2]. For Greece, this implies that its existing energy mix needs to be restructured radically. Photovoltaic (PV) systems for electricity genera- tion are considered to be a type of technology with great potential in Greece due to favorable climatic conditions [3]. In this paper, we study the Greek legislation regarding sub- sidies for the installation of PV systems in households [4] and design a PV system for a specific house in Xanthi, Greece, taking into account meteorological conditions of the area. In light of the legal framework, we perform an economic analysis of the system and draw conclusions on its profitability as an investment for private consumers. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Software tool PVGIS To assess the potential of using a PV system for en- ergy production to cover the electricity needs of a single- family house in Xanthi, Greece, we had to take into ac- count the meteorological conditions (solar radiation, irra- diation angle, ambient temperature, etc.) of the area. This was done with the Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) [5], which provides a map-based inven- tory of solar energy resource and assessment of the elec- tricity generation from photovoltaic systems in Europe and elsewhere. The data that we enter in PVGIS are the follow- ing: geographic coordinates of house location (41°7'50" North, 24°51'51" East, Elevation: 183 m above sea level (a.s.l.)), PV technology used (crystalline silicon), nominal power of the system (1 kW), as well as mounting position (building integrated). The program uses GIS databases and a solar radiation mathematical model to perform potential energy generation calculations. Databases were