What is it about?
The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of fixed power charges on the economics of PV systems under self-consumption schemes. Using real demand and generation data, simulations include detailed computation of annual billing savings, payback-time, self-consumption and self-sufficiency of a dwelling coupled with PV-battery system.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Results show that fixed charges require adding storage to residential PV systems. In spite of battery relative high costs, results also show that photovoltaics can be profitable with payback times below 10 years in all scenarios, as long as appropriately sized and with the suitable storage control strategy.
Perspectives
The peak-shaving strategy is useful when bill structures are based on fixed charges. The optimizing self-consumption strategy is useful in bills based on energy charges.
Juan Carlos Solano
At a time when utilities are re-visiting their business models and acknowledging that most of their costs are fixed, based on installed power, while most of their income is based on energy sold, there is pressure to change tariff structure towards a larger fixed component. This paper addresses the impact of those potential changes on the economics of PV. Results are exciting because they show that, with storage and the right energy management, solar energy will continue to thrive under any tariff structure.
Miguel C Brito
Lisboa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Impact of fixed charges on the viability of self-consumption photovoltaics, Energy Policy, November 2018, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.07.059.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
