Abstract
This paper presents energy self-sufficiency simulated in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) by adopting solar energy production systems that were simulated by varying azimuth and super-hydrophilic coating on the surface of photovoltaic (PV). Relative to the national average energy consumption in WWTPs, the employment of 100 kW PV system was simulated to achieve 2.75% of energy self-sufficiency. The simulated results suggested that the installation of PVs toward South or Southwest would produce the highest energy self-sufficiency in WWTPs. When super-hydrophilic coating was employed in the conventional PV, 5% of additional solar energy production was achievable as compared to uncoated conventional PV. When 100 kW of PV system was installed in a future test-bed site, Kihyeung Respia WWTP located in Yongin, South Korea, the energy self-sufficiency by solar power was simulated to be 1.77%. The simulated solar power production by azimuth and super-hydrophilic coating will be useful reference for practitioners in designing the solar PV systems in the WWTPs.