Abstract

Solar energy is slated to be an important energy source for reducing dependence in fossil fuels. Past few years have seen

unprecedented deployments of solar energy in many countries of the developed world. However, solar energy uptake

in developing countries is rather slow. This is particularly true for solar energy installations on buildings. Since buildings

consume more than 40% of energy, it is important that greener buildings are encouraged through on-site production

of renewable energy. However, limited possibility of energy buyback programs in developing countries is one of the

reason for less solar deployments. Also, in some countries the electricity infrastructure is so fragile that energy buyback

programs at smaller scale are not feasible. Therefore, if the building owners like to go green then huge battery

banks are needed to make the best use of solar energy. But battery banks add quite a bit of cost to the overall solar

energy infrastructure in buildings. This extra upfont and maintenance cost is one of the reasons that hampers the

growth of solar on buildings