No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Abstract:The photovoltaic market has recently experienced an enormous expansion, mainly due to the generous Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) adopted by many countries. However, in the recent years FiTs have been considerably reduced or even disappeared as their role in the PV deployment has ended. One of the alternatives is the Net-Metering (NEM) policy, which has attracted the interest of stakeholders as it provides a basis for the efficient collaboration between generation and the consumption profiles of the consumer. Currently, there is a lack of a universal policy harmonizing the respective legislations of the E.U. member countries. This paper proposes a novel generalized methodology for the techno-economic assessment of different NEM policies in terms of profitability for the prosumer. The methodology is tested in a formulated case study based on the current NEM policy in Greece. The method proposed uses as inputs the averaged load profiles constructed from real measurements collected from 31 consumers in the Thessaloniki area and evaluated PV production. The current NEM policy and four alternatives are examined, using as additional input the average system marginal prices of the year 2013. The results show that the proposed methodology is capable of evaluating a wide variety of NEM policies and can lead to suggestions for policy adaptation in order to establish a win-win contract between all interested stakeholders.

No abstract

No abstract

During the last two decades, the use of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems has been widely promoted by governments through various support mechanisms such as feed-in-tariffs, net-metering, net-billing, etc. These support schemes have developed a secure investment environment, increasing the penetration level of PVs in low-voltage distribution grids. Nonetheless, increased PV integration may introduce several technical problems regarding the secure operation of distribution grids. Battery energy storage (BES) systems can mitigate such challenges, but the high capital cost is one of the most important limiting factors towards the widespread use of these systems. In fact, the financial viability of integrated PV and BES systems under different support schemes remains an open issue. In this study, the profitability of PV and BES systems is evaluated through an advanced techno-economic model, that provides the optimal size of PV-BES system in terms of net present value, based on the electricity production and consumption profile of the installation, PV and BES systems costs, and electricity charges. The proposed model may be a useful tool for prosumers, grid operators and policymakers, to assess the impact of various incentive policy schemes and different BES operation strategies on the economic viability of PV-BES systems. Nomenclature Indices k billing period n year of analysis r pricing period t year of investment (t = 1 for an investment at the current year) ti time instant related to the BES system control Variables c t, n annual electricity cost for a net consumer supplied exclusively by the grid c SC t, n annual electricity cost for a prosumer with a PV-BES system operating under a self-consumption scheme c NeB t, n

Load profiling provides the necessary information about daily demand patterns for the short and medium-term actions Ƞf retailers and utilities. Consumer characterization is a two stage approach: In the first stage, the daily load curves of each consumer are classified in a certain number of clusters. Each cluster constitutes a load profile. In the second stage, one of these profiles is chosen as representative for the consumer and a new classification takes places between the load profiles of each customer, leading to the formulation of customer classes. This paper examines various approaches for the formulation of the consumer classes during the first stage. A specific profile is chosen and the second stage procedure takes place. A criterion based on cost of purchased electricity is introduced in order to evaluate the results of the clustering of the second stage.Index Terms-Electricity customer characterization; demand side management; load profiles; pattern recognition; I.P. Panapakidis is with the . His special interests are power systems modelling, computation of electromagnetic transients, distributed generation, powerline communications, smart grids and energy policy.