干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

To preserve the Earth, a 100MW very large-scale photovoltaic power generation (VLS-PV) system is estimated assuming that it is installed on the would deserts, which are Sahara, Negev, Thar, Sonora, Great Sandy and Gobi desert. These deserts are good for installing the system because of its big irradiation and large land area. PV array is dimensioned in detail in terms of array layout, support, foundation, wiring and so on. Then generation cost of the system is estimated based on the methodology of Life-Cycle Cost (LCC). As a result of the estimation, the generation cost is calculated as 5.3 cent/kWh on Sahara desert, 6.4 cent/kWh on Gobi desert assuming PV module price of $1.0/W-system lifetime of 30,years and interest rate of 3%. These results suggest that VLS-PV systems. are economically feasible on sufficient irradiation site even. if existing PV system technologies are applied, when PV module price will decrease to a level of $1.0/W.