Techno economic assessment of hybrid solar wind microgeneration for a university campus in Ecuador

Abstract

The transition toward renewable distributed generation on university campuses requires the integration of local resources, demand, and financial feasibility. The La María Campus of the Technical State University of Quevedo was assessed using 2017–2023 institutional records, PVGIS 5.3 solar data, Windfinder wind information, and analytical sizing. The seven available institutional records (126, 132, 178, 255, 148, 303, and 489 kWh) have an arithmetic mean of 233 kWh; however, the available documentation does not verify that they share a daily time basis. Therefore, 233 kWh/day and the 139.8 kWh/day substitution target are retained only as a conditional scenario and require confirmation from the primary source. Conservative sizing used 1.8 peak-sun-hours per day for the critical month and a performance ratio of 0.847. The 600 Wp alternative requires 91.70 kWp of calculated capacity and 153 modules, equivalent to 91.80 kWp of installed capacity. Using the reported annual irradiation of 1332 kWh/m²-year, indicative photovoltaic generation is approximately 103.6 MWh/year; nevertheless, savings cannot be equated with all generated energy without a time-resolved load, self-consumption, and export balance. The mean wind speed of 2.57 m/s is below the AIR 30 cut-in speed of 2.7 m/s, so no verifiable annual wind-energy contribution is assigned. Definitive financial feasibility remains conditional on validating the demand time unit, the self-consumption balance, the electricity tariff, and the CAPEX breakdown.