IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v162y2020icp13-29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic assessment of grid-connected residential solar photovoltaic systems introduced under Romania’s new regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Cristea, Ciprian
  • Cristea, Maria
  • Birou, Iulian
  • Tîrnovan, Radu-Adrian

Abstract

Romania has recently modified its legislation concerning energy production using photovoltaic systems to support the use of renewable resources. A program which offers subsidies for the procurement and installation of solar photovoltaic systems is in progress. This paper presents the economic assessment of residential solar photovoltaic systems connected to the grid in Romania under the new regulation. The valuations were conducted for six photovoltaic systems with different capacities that can be included in the legislation concerning prosumers; eighteen cities were chosen for a nationwide investigation and five types of household annual electricity demand. The capabilities and efficiency of the photovoltaic systems were simulated using PVSOL, while Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Profitability Index and Discounted Payback Period were used to determine the feasibility of the systems. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to examine the effect of injected energy price on the system’s efficiency. The results showed the systems were economically feasible when subsidies were available, especially those with a smaller energy production capacity. In Romania, the photovoltaic systems can be economically competitive in certain situations, like it is recommended to increase the subsidies, especially in the Northern part of the country to compensate for lower irradiance.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristea, Ciprian & Cristea, Maria & Birou, Iulian & Tîrnovan, Radu-Adrian, 2020. "Economic assessment of grid-connected residential solar photovoltaic systems introduced under Romania’s new regulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 13-29.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:13-29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.07.130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120312064
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2020.07.130?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aqeeq, Muhammad Arsalan & Hyder, Syed Irfan & Shehzad, Farrukh & Tahir, Muhammad Arsalan, 2018. "On the competitiveness of grid-tied residential photovoltaic generation systems in Pakistan: Panacea or paradox?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 704-722.
    2. Li, Chong & Zhou, Dequn & Zheng, Yuan, 2018. "Techno-economic comparative study of grid-connected PV power systems in five climate zones, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1352-1369.
    3. Talavera, D.L. & Muñoz-Cerón, Emilio & Ferrer-Rodríguez, J.P. & Pérez-Higueras, Pedro J., 2019. "Assessment of cost-competitiveness and profitability of fixed and tracking photovoltaic systems: The case of five specific sites," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 902-913.
    4. Omar, Moien A. & Mahmoud, Marwan M., 2018. "Grid connected PV- home systems in Palestine: A review on technical performance, effects and economic feasibility," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2490-2497.
    5. Ewing, Bradley T. & Payne, James E. & Caporin, Massimilano, 2022. "The Asymmetric Impact of Oil Prices and Production on Drilling Rig Trajectory: A correction," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Coria, Gustavo & Penizzotto, Franco & Pringles, Rolando, 2019. "Economic analysis of photovoltaic projects: The Argentinian renewable generation policy for residential sectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1167-1177.
    7. Hirvonen, Janne & Kayo, Genku & Cao, Sunliang & Hasan, Ala & Sirén, Kai, 2015. "Renewable energy production support schemes for residential-scale solar photovoltaic systems in Nordic conditions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 72-86.
    8. Rodrigues, Sandy & Chen, Xiaoju & Morgado-Dias, F., 2017. "Economic analysis of photovoltaic systems for the residential market under China's new regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 467-472.
    9. Ribeiro, Alan Emanuel Duailibe & Arouca, Maurício Cardoso & Coelho, Daniel Moreira, 2016. "Electric energy generation from small-scale solar and wind power in Brazil: The influence of location, area and shape," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 554-563.
    10. Stigka, Eleni K. & Paravantis, John A. & Mihalakakou, Giouli K., 2014. "Social acceptance of renewable energy sources: A review of contingent valuation applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 100-106.
    11. Bayer, Benjamin & Matschoss, Patrick & Thomas, Heiko & Marian, Adela, 2018. "The German experience with integrating photovoltaic systems into the low-voltage grids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 129-141.
    12. Zhang, Fang & Deng, Hao & Margolis, Robert & Su, Jun, 2015. "Analysis of distributed-generation photovoltaic deployment, installation time and cost, market barriers, and policies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 43-55.
    13. Duman, A. Can & Güler, Önder, 2020. "Economic analysis of grid-connected residential rooftop PV systems in Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 697-711.
    14. Zamfir, Andreea & Colesca, Sofia Elena & Corbos, Razvan-Andrei, 2016. "Public policies to support the development of renewable energy in Romania: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 87-106.
    15. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    16. Lu, Qing & Yu, Hao & Zhao, Kangli & Leng, Yajun & Hou, Jianchao & Xie, Pinjie, 2019. "Residential demand response considering distributed PV consumption: A model based on China's PV policy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 443-456.
    17. Panwar, N.L. & Kaushik, S.C. & Kothari, Surendra, 2011. "Role of renewable energy sources in environmental protection: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1513-1524, April.
    18. Dehwah, Ammar H.A. & Asif, Muhammad, 2019. "Assessment of net energy contribution to buildings by rooftop photovoltaic systems in hot-humid climates," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 1288-1299.
    19. Lacchini, Corrado & Rüther, Ricardo, 2015. "The influence of government strategies on the financial return of capital invested in PV systems located in different climatic zones in Brazil," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 786-798.
    20. Espinoza, R. & Muñoz-Cerón, E. & Aguilera, J. & de la Casa, J., 2019. "Feasibility evaluation of residential photovoltaic self-consumption projects in Peru," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 414-427.
    21. Bakhshi, Reza & Sadeh, Javad, 2018. "Economic evaluation of grid–connected photovoltaic systems viability under a new dynamic feed–in tariff scheme: A case study in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 354-364.
    22. Năstase, Gabriel & Șerban, Alexandru & Dragomir, George & Brezeanu, Alin Ionuț & Bucur, Irina, 2018. "Photovoltaic development in Romania. Reviewing what has been done," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 523-535.
    23. Kannan, Nadarajah & Vakeesan, Divagar, 2016. "Solar energy for future world: - A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1092-1105.
    24. Visa, Ion & Burduhos, Bogdan & Neagoe, Mircea & Moldovan, Macedon & Duta, Anca, 2016. "Comparative analysis of the infield response of five types of photovoltaic modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 178-190.
    25. Iacobescu, Flavius & Badescu, Viorel, 2012. "The potential of the local administration as driving force for the implementation of the National PV systems Strategy in Romania," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 117-125.
    26. López Prol, Javier, 2018. "Regulation, profitability and diffusion of photovoltaic grid-connected systems: A comparative analysis of Germany and Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1170-1181.
    27. Zweibel, Ken, 2010. "Should solar photovoltaics be deployed sooner because of long operating life at low, predictable cost?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7519-7530, November.
    28. Sütterlin, Bernadette & Siegrist, Michael, 2017. "Public acceptance of renewable energy technologies from an abstract versus concrete perspective and the positive imagery of solar power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 356-366.
    29. Ghasemi, Golara & Noorollahi, Younes & Alavi, Hamed & Marzband, Mousa & Shahbazi, Mahmoud, 2019. "Theoretical and technical potential evaluation of solar power generation in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1250-1261.
    30. Alamdari, Pouria & Nematollahi, Omid & Alemrajabi, Ali Akbar, 2013. "Solar energy potentials in Iran: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 778-788.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Violeta Mihaela Dinca & Simona Moagar-Poladian & Tanase Stamule & Puiu Nistoreanu, 2023. "The REPowerEU Plan and the Transition to Green Energy in Romania," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 25(64), pages 676-676, August.
    2. Prăvălie, Remus & Sîrodoev, Igor & Ruiz-Arias, José & Dumitraşcu, Monica, 2022. "Using renewable (solar) energy as a sustainable management pathway of lands highly sensitive to degradation in Romania. A countrywide analysis based on exploring the geographical and technical solar p," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 976-990.
    3. Bosu, Issa & Mahmoud, Hatem & Hassan, Hamdy, 2023. "Energy audit, techno-economic, and environmental assessment of integrating solar technologies for energy management in a university residential building: A case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    4. Dasí-Crespo, Daniel & Roldán-Blay, Carlos & Escrivá-Escrivá, Guillermo & Roldán-Porta, Carlos, 2023. "Evaluation of the Spanish regulation on self-consumption photovoltaic installations. A case study based on a rural municipality in Spain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 788-802.
    5. Ciprian Cristea & Maria Cristea & Dan Doru Micu & Andrei Ceclan & Radu-Adrian Tîrnovan & Florica Mioara Șerban, 2022. "Tridimensional Sustainability and Feasibility Assessment of Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems Applied for the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-23, August.
    6. Cai, Qiran & Qing, Jing & Xu, Qingyang & Shi, Gang & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2024. "Techno-economic impact of electricity price mechanism and demand response on residential rooftop photovoltaic integration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    7. Minkyu Kim & Chankook Park, 2021. "Academic Topics Related to Household Energy Consumption Using the Future Sign Detection Technique," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-24, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duman, A. Can & Güler, Önder, 2020. "Economic analysis of grid-connected residential rooftop PV systems in Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 697-711.
    2. Ciprian Cristea & Maria Cristea & Dan Doru Micu & Andrei Ceclan & Radu-Adrian Tîrnovan & Florica Mioara Șerban, 2022. "Tridimensional Sustainability and Feasibility Assessment of Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems Applied for the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Zhang, Minhui & Zhang, Qin, 2020. "Grid parity analysis of distributed photovoltaic power generation in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    4. Rômulo de Oliveira Azevêdo & Paulo Rotela Junior & Luiz Célio Souza Rocha & Gianfranco Chicco & Giancarlo Aquila & Rogério Santana Peruchi, 2020. "Identification and Analysis of Impact Factors on the Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Energy Investments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-40, September.
    5. Aquila, Giancarlo & Coelho, Eden de Oliveira Pinto & Bonatto, Benedito Donizeti & Pamplona, Edson de Oliveira & Nakamura, Wilson Toshiro, 2021. "Perspective of uncertainty and risk from the CVaR-LCOE approach: An analysis of the case of PV microgeneration in Minas Gerais, Brazil," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    6. Shazia Kousar & Farhan Ahmed & María de las Nieves López García & Nimra Ashraf, 2020. "Renewable Energy Consumption, Water Crises, and Environmental Degradation with Moderating Role of Governance: Dynamic Panel Analysis under Cross-Sectional Dependence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Vaziri Rad, Mohammad Amin & Toopshekan, Ashkan & Rahdan, Parisa & Kasaeian, Alibakhsh & Mahian, Omid, 2020. "A comprehensive study of techno-economic and environmental features of different solar tracking systems for residential photovoltaic installations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Bustos, F. & Toledo, A. & Contreras, J. & Fuentes, A., 2016. "Sensitivity analysis of a photovoltaic solar plant in Chile," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(P1), pages 145-153.
    9. Mostafaeipour, Ali & Alvandimanesh, Marzieh & Najafi, Fatemeh & Issakhov, Alibek, 2021. "Identifying challenges and barriers for development of solar energy by using fuzzy best-worst method: A case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    10. Shahsavari, Amir & Akbari, Morteza, 2018. "Potential of solar energy in developing countries for reducing energy-related emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 275-291.
    11. Daniel Efurosibina Attoye & Timothy O. Adekunle & Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul & Ahmed Hassan & Samuel Osekafore Attoye, 2018. "A Conceptual Framework for a Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Educative-Communication Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Natnaporn Aeknarajindawat & Boonsri Suteerachai & Pornkul Suksod, 2020. "The Impact of Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Economic Growth on Carbon Dioxide Emission in Malaysia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(3), pages 211-218.
    13. Xin-gang, Zhao & Yi-min, Xie, 2019. "The economic performance of industrial and commercial rooftop photovoltaic in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Prăvălie, Remus & Sîrodoev, Igor & Ruiz-Arias, José & Dumitraşcu, Monica, 2022. "Using renewable (solar) energy as a sustainable management pathway of lands highly sensitive to degradation in Romania. A countrywide analysis based on exploring the geographical and technical solar p," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 976-990.
    15. Fuquan Zhao & Feiqi Liu & Han Hao & Zongwei Liu, 2020. "Carbon Emission Reduction Strategy for Energy Users in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-19, August.
    16. D’Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Gastaldi, Massimo & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2020. "The economic viability of photovoltaic systems in public buildings: Evidence from Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    17. Punia Sindhu, Sonal & Nehra, Vijay & Luthra, Sunil, 2016. "Recognition and prioritization of challenges in growth of solar energy using analytical hierarchy process: Indian outlook," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 332-348.
    18. Dogan, Eyup & Altinoz, Buket & Madaleno, Mara & Taskin, Dilvin, 2020. "The impact of renewable energy consumption to economic growth: A replication and extension of Inglesi-Lotz (2016)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Hamisu S. Ali & Solomon P. Nathaniel & Gizem Uzuner & Festus V. Bekun & Samuel A. Sarkodie, 2020. "Trivariate Modelling of the Nexus between Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Fresh Insights from Maki Cointegration and Causality Tests," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/010, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    20. Kangyin Dong & Xiucheng Dong & Qingzhe Jiang, 2020. "How renewable energy consumption lower global CO2 emissions? Evidence from countries with different income levels," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1665-1698, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:13-29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.