IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i15p3846-d390594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Comparison Between a Stand-Alone and a Grid Connected PV System vs. Grid Distance

Author

Listed:
  • Concettina Marino

    (Department of Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy)

  • Antonino Nucara

    (Department of Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy)

  • Maria Francesca Panzera

    (Department of Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy)

  • Matilde Pietrafesa

    (Department of Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy)

  • Alfredo Pudano

    (Department of Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy)

Abstract

The limitation of fossil fuel uses and GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions reduction are two of the main objectives of the European energy policy and global agreements that aim to contain climate changes. To this end, the building sector, responsible for important energy consumption rates, requires a significant improvement of its energetic performance, an obtainable increase of its energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources. Within this framework, in this study, we analysed the economic feasibility of a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) plant, dimensioned in two configurations with decreasing autonomy. Their Net Present Value at the end of their life span was compared with that of the same plant in both grid-connected and storage-on-grid configurations, as well as being compared with a grid connection without PV. The analysis confirms that currently, for short distances from the grid, the most suitable PV configuration is the grid-connected one, but also that the additional use of a battery with a limited capacity (storage on grid configuration) would provide interesting savings to the user, guaranteeing a fairly energetic autonomy. Stand-alone PV systems are only convenient for the analysed site from distances of the order of 5 km, and it is worth noting that such a configuration is neither energetically nor economically sustainable due to the necessary over-dimensioning of both its generators and batteries, which generates a surplus of energy production that cannot be used elsewhere and implies a dramatic cost increase and no corresponding benefits. The results have been tested for different latitudes, confirming what we found. A future drop of both batteries’ and PV generators’ prices would let the economic side of PV stand-alone systems be reconsidered, but not their energetic one, so that their use, allowing energy exchanges, results in being more appropriate for district networks. For all PV systems, avoided emissions of both local and GHG gases (CO 2 ) have been estimated.

Suggested Citation

  • Concettina Marino & Antonino Nucara & Maria Francesca Panzera & Matilde Pietrafesa & Alfredo Pudano, 2020. "Economic Comparison Between a Stand-Alone and a Grid Connected PV System vs. Grid Distance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:15:p:3846-:d:390594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3846/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3846/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Foley, A. & Díaz Lobera, I., 2013. "Impacts of compressed air energy storage plant on an electricity market with a large renewable energy portfolio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 85-94.
    2. López-Sabirón, Ana M. & Royo, Patricia & Ferreira, Victor J. & Aranda-Usón, Alfonso & Ferreira, Germán, 2014. "Carbon footprint of a thermal energy storage system using phase change materials for industrial energy recovery to reduce the fossil fuel consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 616-624.
    3. Narayanan, Arun & Mets, Kevin & Strobbe, Matthias & Develder, Chris, 2019. "Feasibility of 100% renewable energy-based electricity production for cities with storage and flexibility," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 698-709.
    4. Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L. & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tsialis, Panagiotis & Ioannou, Konstantinos, 2018. "Electricity consumption and RES plants in Greece: Typologies of regional units," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 134-144.
    5. Krajačić, Goran & Lončar, Dražen & Duić, Neven & Zeljko, Mladen & Lacal Arántegui, Roberto & Loisel, Rodica & Raguzin, Igor, 2013. "Analysis of financial mechanisms in support to new pumped hydropower storage projects in Croatia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 161-171.
    6. Arsalis, Alexandros & Alexandrou, Andreas N. & Georghiou, George E., 2018. "Thermoeconomic modeling of a completely autonomous, zero-emission photovoltaic system with hydrogen storage for residential applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 354-369.
    7. Avril, S. & Arnaud, G. & Florentin, A. & Vinard, M., 2010. "Multi-objective optimization of batteries and hydrogen storage technologies for remote photovoltaic systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5300-5308.
    8. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2009. "CO2 emissions, energy usage, and output in Central America," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3282-3286, August.
    9. Hvelplund, Frede, 2006. "Renewable energy and the need for local energy markets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(13), pages 2293-2302.
    10. Gonçalves da Silva, C., 2010. "Renewable energies: Choosing the best options," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3179-3193.
    11. Srete Nikolovski & Hamid Reza Baghaee & Dragan Mlakić, 2018. "ANFIS-Based Peak Power Shaving/Curtailment in Microgrids Including PV Units and BESSs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-23, October.
    12. Marino, C. & Nucara, A. & Pietrafesa, M. & Pudano, A., 2013. "An energy self-sufficient public building using integrated renewable sources and hydrogen storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 95-105.
    13. Lund, Henrik, 2010. "The implementation of renewable energy systems. Lessons learned from the Danish case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4003-4009.
    14. Parida, Bhubaneswari & Iniyan, S. & Goic, Ranko, 2011. "A review of solar photovoltaic technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1625-1636, April.
    15. Bevilacqua, Piero & Bruno, Roberto & Arcuri, Natale, 2020. "Comparing the performances of different cooling strategies to increase photovoltaic electric performance in different meteorological conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    16. Lorestani, A. & Ardehali, M.M., 2018. "Optimization of autonomous combined heat and power system including PVT, WT, storages, and electric heat utilizing novel evolutionary particle swarm optimization algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 490-503.
    17. Sharma, Atul & Tyagi, V.V. & Chen, C.R. & Buddhi, D., 2009. "Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 318-345, February.
    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. Bevilacqua, Piero & Bruno, Roberto & Rollo, Antonino & Ferraro, Vittorio, 2022. "A novel thermal model for PV panels with back surface spray cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    2. Khaled Obaideen & Abdul Ghani Olabi & Yaser Al Swailmeen & Nabila Shehata & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem & Abdul Hai Alami & Cristina Rodriguez & Enas Taha Sayed, 2023. "Solar Energy: Applications, Trends Analysis, Bibliometric Analysis and Research Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-34, January.
    3. Concettina Marino & Antonino Nucara & Maria Francesca Panzera & Matilde Pietrafesa, 2023. "Greenhouse Gas Balance in the City of Reggio Calabria and Assessment of the Effects of Measures of Emission Reduction and Absorption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Fernando del Ama Gonzalo & Belen Moreno Santamaria & José Antonio Ferrándiz Gea & Matthew Griffin & Juan A. Hernandez Ramos, 2021. "Zero Energy Building Economic and Energetic Assessment with Simulated and Real Data Using Photovoltaics and Water Flow Glazing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Konduru Sudharshan & C. Naveen & Pradeep Vishnuram & Damodhara Venkata Siva Krishna Rao Kasagani & Benedetto Nastasi, 2022. "Systematic Review on Impact of Different Irradiance Forecasting Techniques for Solar Energy Prediction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-39, August.

    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. Marino, C. & Nucara, A. & Panzera, M.F. & Pietrafesa, M. & Varano, V., 2019. "Energetic and economic analysis of a stand alone photovoltaic system with hydrogen storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 316-329.
    2. Rosario Carbone & Concettina Marino & Antonino Nucara & Maria Francesca Panzera & Matilde Pietrafesa, 2019. "Electric Load Influence on Performances of a Composite Plant for Hydrogen Production from RES and its Conversion in Electricity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Marino, C. & Nucara, A. & Pietrafesa, M. & Pudano, A., 2013. "An energy self-sufficient public building using integrated renewable sources and hydrogen storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 95-105.
    4. Gkanas, Evangelos I. & Khzouz, Martin & Panagakos, Grigorios & Statheros, Thomas & Mihalakakou, Giouli & Siasos, Gerasimos I. & Skodras, Georgios & Makridis, Sofoklis S., 2018. "Hydrogenation behavior in rectangular metal hydride tanks under effective heat management processes for green building applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 518-530.
    5. Abdin, Z. & Alim, M.A. & Saidur, R. & Islam, M.R. & Rashmi, W. & Mekhilef, S. & Wadi, A., 2013. "Solar energy harvesting with the application of nanotechnology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 837-852.
    6. Abdur Rehman Mazhar & Shuli Liu & Ashish Shukla, 2018. "A Key Review of Non-Industrial Greywater Heat Harnessing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-34, February.
    7. Li, Chennan & Goswami, Yogi & Stefanakos, Elias, 2013. "Solar assisted sea water desalination: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 136-163.
    8. Ganesh, Ibram, 2015. "Solar fuels vis-à-vis electricity generation from sunlight: The current state-of-the-art (a review)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 904-932.
    9. Foley, A.M. & Leahy, P.G. & Li, K. & McKeogh, E.J. & Morrison, A.P., 2015. "A long-term analysis of pumped hydro storage to firm wind power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 638-648.
    10. Mohamed, Shamseldin A. & Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A. & Ibrahim, Nasiru I. & Zahir, Md. Hasan & Al-Ahmed, Amir & Saidur, R. & Yılbaş, B.S. & Sahin, A.Z., 2017. "A review on current status and challenges of inorganic phase change materials for thermal energy storage systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1072-1089.
    11. Abdul Mujeebu, Muhammad & Alshamrani, Othman Subhi, 2016. "Prospects of energy conservation and management in buildings – The Saudi Arabian scenario versus global trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1647-1663.
    12. Efstathios E. Michaelides, 2021. "Thermodynamics, Energy Dissipation, and Figures of Merit of Energy Storage Systems—A Critical Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-41, September.
    13. Yuan, Shunpan & Yan, Rui & Ren, Bibo & Du, Zongliang & Cheng, Xu & Du, Xiaosheng & Wang, Haibo, 2021. "Robust, double-layered phase-changing microcapsules with superior solar-thermal conversion capability and extremely high energy storage density for efficient solar energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 725-733.
    14. Kwon, Pil Seok & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2012. "Comparison of future energy scenarios for Denmark: IDA 2050, CEESA (Coherent Energy and Environmental System Analysis), and Climate Commission 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 275-282.
    15. Hoppmann, Joern & Volland, Jonas & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2014. "The economic viability of battery storage for residential solar photovoltaic systems – A review and a simulation model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1101-1118.
    16. Elaouzy, Y. & El Fadar, A., 2022. "Energy, economic and environmental benefits of integrating passive design strategies into buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    17. Settino, Jessica & Sant, Tonio & Micallef, Christopher & Farrugia, Mario & Spiteri Staines, Cyril & Licari, John & Micallef, Alexander, 2018. "Overview of solar technologies for electricity, heating and cooling production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 892-909.
    18. Blokhuis, Erik & Advokaat, Bart & Schaefer, Wim, 2012. "Assessing the performance of Dutch local energy companies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 680-690.
    19. Brandoni, Caterina & Polonara, Fabio, 2012. "The role of municipal energy planning in the regional energy-planning process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 323-338.
    20. Royo, Patricia & Ferreira, Víctor J. & López-Sabirón, Ana M. & Ferreira, Germán, 2016. "Hybrid diagnosis to characterise the energy and environmental enhancement of photovoltaic modules using smart materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 174-189.

    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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:15:p:3846-:d:390594. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.