Distributed photovoltaic demand-side generation: an economic evaluation for electric utilities

Abstract

From an electric utility's viewpoint, distributed photovoltaic demand-side generation (PV-DSG) systems can be evaluated in a similar manner to other demand-side management (DSM) technologies. This study evaluates the economic benefits of W -DSG systems, using hourly utility cost and performance data, as a function of the utility's load duration curve (LDC). The analysis focuses on one utility, New England Electric System (NEES). Actual utility hourly system load data for 1991 and corresponding PV output data from a 2.2 kW (DC) gridconnected residential PV system, installed as part of the NEES Gardner project, are used for this study. At NEES's weighted average cost of capital of 8.78% the energy and capacity benefit values calculated equate to an allowable installed PV system cost of $2.41/wan. A social discount rate of 3% allows for an even higher installed cost-perwatt figure of $4.72. The higher the allowable installed cost, the easier it will be for the PV industry to enter the utility market. These results are represented graphically as a target to emphasize the importance of the utility target market to the W industry. [1,2]

Comparing Photovoltaic Capacity Value Metrics: A Case Study for the City of Toronto

“…Methods used include full ELCC/LOLP analyses, [3][4][5][6] applications of the Garver approximation to ELCC, 7-10 averaging of PV capacity factor over selected ''peak'' demand intervals, [11][12][13][14] and other methods based for instance on financial analyses. 15,16 The capacity values obtained cover a broad range, from about 5% to almost 80% in the case of the Kerman single-axis tracking PV plant in California.…”