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| 1 |
ID:
128359
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in the US are often compensated at the customer's underlying retail electricity rate through net metering. Given the uncertainty in future retail rates and the inherent links between rates and the customer-economics of behind-the-meter PV, there is growing interest in understanding how potential changes in rates may impact the value of bill savings from PV. In this article, we first use a production cost and capacity expansion model to project California hourly wholesale electricity market prices under two potential electricity market scenarios, including a reference and a 33% renewables scenario. Second, based on the wholesale electricity market prices generated by the model, we develop retail rates (i.e., flat, time-of-use, and real-time pricing) for each future scenario based on standard retail rate design principles. Finally, based on these retail rates, the bill savings from PV is estimated for 226 California residential customers under two types of net metering, for each scenario. We find that high renewable penetrations can drive substantial changes in residential retail rates and that these changes, together with variations in retail rate structures and PV compensation mechanisms, interact to place substantial uncertainty on the future value of bill savings from residential PV.
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| 2 |
ID:
176654
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| Summary/Abstract |
This study provides a comprehensive examination of factors that affect the electricity bill savings of a sample of solar adopters in four U.S. states. A multilevel model is used to capture the role of variations across state policies and local regulations, and examine their effect on savings after controlling for household characteristics. We find that solar adopters located in zip codes with higher photovoltaics penetration have significantly higher summer savings. This suggests that local policies that remove barriers for the wide adoption of solar panels across multiple households would be in alignment with increasing the private value of solar panels. Furthermore, we find that solar adopters in zip codes with smaller installed capacity have higher summer savings. The analysis in this study suggests that, to achieve higher savings, local policies that regulate size are less effective compared to policies that remove barriers to a wider photovoltaics adoption. Finally, this study finds evidence for the role of certain household-level variables in explaining the electricity bill savings of solar adopters. Solar-savings-calculators can be customized to include some of these house and resident characteristics.
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| 3 |
ID:
132646
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article offers the first national examination of the determinants of adoption of wind and solar energy generation on U.S. farming operations. The inclusion of state policies and characteristics in a multilevel modeling approach distinguishes this study from past research utilizing logit models of technology adoption which focus only on the characteristics of the farm operation. Results suggest the propensity to adopt is higher for livestock operations, larger farms, operators with internet access, organic operations, and newer farmers. The results find state characteristics such as solar resources, per capita income levels, and predominantly democratic voting increasing the odds of farm adoption. This research suggests the relevance of state policy variables in explaining farm level outcomes is limited, although in combination best practice net metering and interconnection policies-policies designed to encourage the development of small scale distributed applications-are shown to increase the likelihood of farm solar and wind adoption. The prevalence of electric cooperatives-which are often not subject to state renewable energy policies and often service farms-is negatively related with the propensity to adopt and suggests that policy design may be a factor
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| 4 |
ID:
128408
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| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper examines the economic viability of small-scale, grid-connected photovoltaics in the Brazilian residential and commercial sectors after the introduction of the net metering regulation in April 2012. This study uses the discounted cash flow method to calculate the specific investment costs that are necessary for photovoltaic systems to be economically viable for each of the 63 distribution networks in Brazil. We compare these values to the system costs that are estimated in the comprehensive study on photovoltaics that was developed by the Brazilian Association of Electric and Electronic Industries (ABINEE). In our calculation, we utilize the current electricity tariffs, including fees and taxes, which we obtained through telephone interviews and publicly available information. We obtained a second important parameter by simulating PV-systems with the program PV?Sol at the distribution company headquarters' locations. In our base case scenario that reflects the current situation, in none of the distribution networks photovoltaics is economically viable in either the commercial or residential sectors. We improved the environment for grid-connected photovoltaics in our scenarios by assuming both lower PV-system costs and a lower discount rate to determine the effect on photovoltaics viability.
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| 5 |
ID:
109384
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Net metering has become a widespread mechanism in the U.S. for supporting customer adoption of distributed photovoltaics (PV), but has faced challenges as PV installations grow to a larger share of generation in a number of states. This paper examines the value of the bill savings that customers receive under net metering, and the associated role of retail rate design, based on a sample of approximately two hundred residential customers of California's two largest electric utilities. We find that the bill savings per kWh of PV electricity generated varies by more than a factor of four across the customers in the sample, which is largely attributable to the inclining block structure of the utilities' residential retail rates. We also compare the bill savings under net metering to that received under three potential alternative compensation mechanisms, based on California's Market Price Referent (MPR). We find that net metering provides significantly greater bill savings than a full MPR-based feed-in tariff, but only modestly greater savings than alternative mechanisms under which hourly or monthly net excess generation is compensated at the MPR rate.
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| 6 |
ID:
150773
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Installations of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in the United States have increased dramatically in recent years, in large part because of state and federal subsidies. In the future, such subsidies may be reduced or eliminated. From the homeowner's perspective, solar PV is competitive when it can produce electricity at a cost equivalent to the retail electricity rate, a condition sometimes referred to as “socket parity”. In assessing the economic viability of residential solar PV, most existing literature considers only a few locations and fails to consider the differences in PV system cost and electricity prices that exist across the U.S. We combined insolation data from more than 1000 locations, installation costs by region, and county-level utility rates to provide a more complete economic assessment of rooftop solar PV across the U.S. We calculated the break-even electricity prices and evaluated the reductions in installed costs needed to reach socket parity. Among the scenarios considered, we estimate that only Hawaii has achieved socket parity without the use of subsidies. With subsidies, six states reach socket parity, yet widespread parity is still not achieved. We find that high installation costs and financing rates are two of the largest barriers to socket parity.
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| 7 |
ID:
190616
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| Summary/Abstract |
The shortfall of the feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism led to net metering and net billing, seen as the comprehensive instrument for developing electricity prosumption globally. Following the global trend, Ghana has adopted net metering for its electricity sustainability development. Despite adopting the net metering scheme in Ghana, prosumption faces many challenges. The paper explores the key factors influencing prosumer deployment in Ghana from policy, regulatory and people's perspectives and suggests a better pathway for Ghana's prosuming path. This study reveals several challenges that prosumers face that discourage many people from investing in photovoltaic installations in Ghana. Among the challenges are policy and regulatory gaps, inelastic electricity tariff structure and the unwillingness of distribution system operators to accept prosumers into the grid with the perception of losing the prosumers as consumers.
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| 8 |
ID:
177320
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| Summary/Abstract |
There has recently been a rapid emergence of electricity prosumers at all levels of the grid. However, the skepticism about the feasibility and profitability of their physical disconnection remains. This paper contributes to the exploration of these issues by analyzing the impact of billing policy on the profitability of investment in prosumer schemes in Ontario (Canada). We conclude that the recent fast improvement in commercial storage technologies has made it possible for prosumers to become fully electricity self-sufficient even in locations with high electricity consumption and low availability of renewable energy sources. Among the three options of remaining a conventional consumer, switching to Net Metering or going Off-grid, Off-grid is the least attractive for investment in 2019. However, by 2030 Off-grid gains significant value, and for some locations it becomes even the first or the second most attractive option. Sensitive locations where disconnection is more profitable are characterized by a high share of fixed costs in the total electricity bill. In such locations, it is no longer attractive to remain a conventional consumer in 2030. If the annual bill increase goes beyond 4% and the decreasing trends in the cost of technologies are maintained, Off-grid will become profitable by 2030.
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