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The greenest decision on photovoltaic system allocation

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  • Serrano-Luján, Lucía
  • Espinosa, Nieves
  • Abad, Jose
  • Urbina, Antonio

Abstract

Photovoltaic technologies can have a role in climate change mitigation being routed in sustainability if the decisions are taken wisely. Photovoltaic systems inherently avoid CO2 emissions while running since they replace a share of fossil sources in the energy mix of the country where they are installed. Taking into account that the modules can be manufactured and installed in 138 different countries and that every country has a particular ambient conditions, Life Cycle Assessment methodology has been used to evaluate 1kWp of the three different photovoltaic technologies in order to find the best geographical combination manufacturer-installation, which is the geographical allocation that providing the highest reduction of CO2 emissions per kWp of installed PV capacity. This combined evaluation of the technology and the geographical allocation will provide the end users with additional information and thus, the greenest decision can be taken. Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia and Iceland are found to be ideal places for photovoltaic manufacture while Botswana, Turkmenistan, Kosovo, South Africa and Australia are the best locations where the PV systems can be installed, among others.

Suggested Citation

  • Serrano-Luján, Lucía & Espinosa, Nieves & Abad, Jose & Urbina, Antonio, 2017. "The greenest decision on photovoltaic system allocation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1348-1356.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:101:y:2017:i:c:p:1348-1356
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2016.10.020
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    Cited by:

    1. Judith A. Cherni & Raúl Olalde Font & Lucía Serrano & Felipe Henao & Antonio Urbina, 2016. "Systematic Assessment of Carbon Emissions from Renewable Energy Access to Improve Rural Livelihoods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Anna Maria Kowalczyk & Szymon Czyża, 2022. "Optimising Photovoltaic Farm Location Using a Capabilities Matrix and GIS," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-32, September.
    3. Campos-Guzmán, Verónica & García-Cáscales, M. Socorro & Espinosa, Nieves & Urbina, Antonio, 2019. "Life Cycle Analysis with Multi-Criteria Decision Making: A review of approaches for the sustainability evaluation of renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 343-366.
    4. Peharz, Gerhard & Ulm, Andreas, 2018. "Quantifying the influence of colors on the performance of c-Si photovoltaic devices," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 299-308.
    5. Hoffmann, Fábio Moacir & Molz, Rolf Fredi & Kothe, João Victor & Nara, Elpidio Oscar Benitez & Tedesco, Leonel Pablo Carvalho, 2018. "Monthly profile analysis based on a two-axis solar tracker proposal for photovoltaic panels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 750-759.

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