The Japanese experiences with national PV system programmes

Tools for the profitability analysis of grid‐connected photovoltaics

“…Only buy-down subsidies, such as those granted by Japanese, 7 Dutch, 9 Spanish 19 and Californian 5 governments, and N l -year, low or interest-free loans (for the whole remaining initial cost after the buy-down subsidy, to be repaid in N l equal annual instalments) will be considered in our study, such as the low-interest and interest-free loans by the governments of Germany 8 and Andalusia 20 (Spain), respectively. Taking all this into account, LCC USP may be written as:…”

“…In some cases, Germany 22 and Spain 23 for example, the government subsidises PV electricity so that all delivered electricity is sold to the utility at a unitary selling price ( p s ) which is above the market price. In some other countries, for example, local Swiss PV roof programmes 11 and the buy-back plans of Japanese utility companies, 7 these systems are supported so that the PV electricity surplus is sold to the utility at the same level as the user buying price ( p b ). The most general case would take into account different prices for selling and buying electricity to or from the utility.…”

“…Yet the possible user must make a decision that depends on a wide variety of available incentives: buy-down subsidies, long-term contracts to sell PV electricity at prices for above the market level; free or low-interest loans; tax exemptions, etc. [5][6][7][8][9] Finally, the profitability of the investment also depends on the useful life of the system, annual PV electricity yield sold to the utility, discount rate, annual inflation rate, annual escalation rate of the operation and maintenance cost of the PVGCS, etc.…”

A methodology for the economic evaluation of photovoltaic systems

“…A summary of the experienced results of using PV systems is presented in Korokawa et al (2001). Vallvé and Serrasolses (1997) present examples of autonomous PV systems that are used in residential territories of Spain.…”

Study of models for predicting the diffuse irradiance on inclined surfaces

“…One of the promising usages of renewable energy technology is the installation of the photovoltaic (PV) system, which has already demonstrated its effectiveness and holds great promise for electricity generation [1]. The applications of the PV system have become more widespread in both developed and developing countries [2,3]. Currently, a local study on renewable energy reported that PV technologies are potentially suitable for wide scale applications in Hong Kong [4].…”