This study is a life-cycle analysis of the balance of system (BOS) components of the 3Á5 MW p multi-crystalline PV installation at Tucson Electric Power's (TEP) Springerville, AZ field PV plant. TEP instituted an innovative PV installation program guided by design optimization and cost minimization. The advanced design of the PV structure incorporated the weight of the PV modules as an element of support design, thereby eliminating the need for concrete foundations. The estimate of the life-cycle energy requirements embodied in the BOS is 542 MJ/m 2 , a 71% reduction from those of an older central plant; the corresponding life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions are 29 kg CO 2 eq./m 2 . From field measurements, the energy payback time (EPT) of the BOS is 0Á21 years for the actual location of this plant, and 0Á37 years for average US insolation/temperature conditions. This is a great improvement from the EPT of about 1Á3 years, estimated for an older central plant. The total cost of the balance of system components was $940 US per kW p of installed PV, another milestone in improvement. These results were verified with data from different databases and further tested with sensitivity-and data-uncertainty analyses.
This study investigates the transformation of photovoltaic (PV) electricity production from an intermittent into a dispatchable source of electricity by coupling PV plants to compressed air energy storage (CAES) gas turbine power plants. Based on historical solar irradiation data for the United States' south western states and actual PV and CAES performance data, we show that the large-scale adoption of coupled PV-CAES power plants will likely enable peak electricity generation in 2020 at costs equal to or lower than those from natural gas power plants with or without carbon capture and storage systems. Our findings also suggest that given the societal value of reducing carbon dioxide and the sensitivity of conventional generation to rising fossil fuel prices, this competitive crossover point may occur much sooner.
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