IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i9p2531-d545236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in Europe, Rational Feed-In Tariffs and Subsidies

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Gholami

    (City- and Regional Planning Group, Institute of Safety, Economics and Planning (ISØP), Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway)

  • Harald Nils Røstvik

    (City- and Regional Planning Group, Institute of Safety, Economics and Planning (ISØP), Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway)

Abstract

Building integrated photovoltaics is one of the key technologies when it comes to electricity generation in buildings, districts or urban areas. However, the potential of building façades for the BIPV system, especially in urban areas, is often neglected. Façade-mounted building integrated photovoltaics could contribute to supply the energy demand of buildings in dense urban areas with economic feasibility where the availability of suitable rooftop areas is low. This paper deals with the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV) in the capitals of all the European member state countries plus Norway and Switzerland and presents a metric to investigate a proper subsidy or incentive for BIPV systems. The results showed that the average LCOE of the BIPV system as a building envelope material for the entire outer skin of buildings in Europe is equal to 0.09 Euro per kWh if its role as the power generator is considered in the economic calculations. This value will be 0.15 Euro per kWh if the cost corresponding to its double function in the building is taken into the economic analysis (while the average electricity price is 0.18 Euro per kWh). The results indicate that the BIPV generation cost in most case studies has already reached grid parity. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that on average in Europe, the BIPV system does not need a feed-in tariff if the selling price to the grid is equal to the purchasing price from the grid. Various incentive plans based on the buying/selling price of electricity from/to the main grid together with LCOE of the BIPV systems is also investigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik, 2021. "Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in Europe, Rational Feed-In Tariffs and Subsidies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2531-:d:545236
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2531/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2531/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mundada, Aishwarya S. & Shah, Kunal K. & Pearce, J.M., 2016. "Levelized cost of electricity for solar photovoltaic, battery and cogen hybrid systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 692-703.
    2. 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.
    3. Cui, Yuanlong & Zhu, Jie & Meng, Fanran & Zoras, Stamatis & McKechnie, Jon & Chu, Junze, 2020. "Energy assessment and economic sensitivity analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 101-115.
    4. Reichelstein, Stefan & Sahoo, Anshuman, 2015. "Time of day pricing and the levelized cost of intermittent power generation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 97-108.
    5. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik, 2021. "The Effect of Climate on the Solar Radiation Components on Building Skins and Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Yael Parag & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2016. "Electricity market design for the prosumer era," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(4), pages 1-6, April.
    7. Limmanee, Amornrat & Songtrai, Sasiwimon & Udomdachanut, Nuttakarn & Kaewniyompanit, Songpakit & Sato, Yukinobu & Nakaishi, Masaki & Kittisontirak, Songkiate & Sriprapha, Kobsak & Sakamoto, Yukitaka, 2017. "Degradation analysis of photovoltaic modules under tropical climatic conditions and its impacts on LCOE," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(PA), pages 199-204.
    8. Aldersey-Williams, J. & Rubert, T., 2019. "Levelised cost of energy – A theoretical justification and critical assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 169-179.
    9. Villa-Arrieta, Manuel & Sumper, Andreas, 2019. "Economic evaluation of Nearly Zero Energy Cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 404-416.
    10. Gholami, Hassan & Røstvik, Harald Nils, 2020. "Economic analysis of BIPV systems as a building envelope material for building skins in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    11. de Oliveira Pinto Coelho, Eden & Aquila, Giancarlo & Bonatto, Benedito Donizeti & Balestrassi, Pedro Paulo & de Oliveira Pamplona, Edson & Nakamura, Wilson Toshiro, 2021. "Regulatory impact of photovoltaic prosumer policies in Brazil based on a financial risk analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Shen, Wei & Chen, Xi & Qiu, Jing & Hayward, Jennifier A & Sayeef, Saad & Osman, Peter & Meng, Ke & Dong, Zhao Yang, 2020. "A comprehensive review of variable renewable energy levelized cost of electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    13. Castaneda, Monica & Zapata, Sebastian & Cherni, Judith & Aristizabal, Andres J. & Dyner, Isaac, 2020. "The long-term effects of cautious feed-in tariff reductions on photovoltaic generation in the UK residential sector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1432-1443.
    14. Chul-Yong Lee & Jaekyun Ahn, 2020. "Stochastic Modeling of the Levelized Cost of Electricity for Solar PV," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, June.
    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. Hassan Gholami, 2024. "A Holistic Multi-Criteria Assessment of Solar Energy Utilization on Urban Surfaces," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-35, October.
    2. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik & Koen Steemers, 2021. "The Contribution of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) to the Concept of Nearly Zero-Energy Cities in Europe: Potential and Challenges Ahead," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Fabrizio M. Amoruso & Thorsten Schuetze, 2023. "Carbon Life Cycle Assessment and Costing of Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems for Deep Low-Carbon Renovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-33, June.
    4. Formolli, M. & Kleiven, T. & Lobaccaro, G., 2023. "Assessing solar energy accessibility at high latitudes: A systematic review of urban spatial domains, metrics, and parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Samuel Amo Awuku & Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki & Nazmi Sellami, 2022. "Building Integrated Photovoltaics—The Journey So Far and Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-5, February.
    6. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik, 2021. "Dataset for the Solar Incident Radiation and Electricity Production BIPV/BAPV System on the Northern/Southern Façade in Dense Urban Areas," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-15, May.
    7. Álvaro Rodríguez-Martinez & Carlos Rodríguez-Monroy, 2021. "Economic Analysis and Modelling of Rooftop Photovoltaic Systems in Spain for Industrial Self-Consumption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-32, November.
    8. Kyu-Won Hwang & Chul-Yong Lee, 2024. "Estimating the Deterministic and Stochastic Levelized Cost of the Energy of Fence-Type Agrivoltaics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-19, April.

    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. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik & Koen Steemers, 2021. "The Contribution of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) to the Concept of Nearly Zero-Energy Cities in Europe: Potential and Challenges Ahead," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Wang, Yunfei & Li, Jinke & O'Leary, Nigel & Shao, Jing, 2024. "Banding: A game changer in the Renewables Obligation scheme in the United Kingdom," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Pagnini, Luisa & Bracco, Stefano & Delfino, Federico & de-Simón-Martín, Miguel, 2024. "Levelized cost of electricity in renewable energy communities: Uncertainty propagation analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    4. Silvestri, Luca & De Santis, Michele, 2024. "Renewable-based load shifting system for demand response to enhance energy-economic-environmental performance of industrial enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    5. Libo Zhang & Qian Du & Dequn Zhou, 2021. "Grid Parity Analysis of China’s Centralized Photovoltaic Generation under Multiple Uncertainties," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Chenglong Guo & Wanan Sheng & Dakshina G. De Silva & George Aggidis, 2023. "A Review of the Levelized Cost of Wave Energy Based on a Techno-Economic Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-30, February.
    7. D'Adamo, Idiano & Gastaldi, Massimo & Morone, Piergiuseppe & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2022. "Economics and policy implications of residential photovoltaic systems in Italy's developed market," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Cho, Sangmin & Kim, Jinsoo & Lim, Deokoh, 2024. "Optimal design of renewable energy certificate multipliers using an LCOE-Integrated AHP model: A case study of South Korea," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    9. D'Adamo, Idiano & Gastaldi, Massimo & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2022. "The impact of a subsidized tax deduction on residential solar photovoltaic-battery energy storage systems," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Lu-Miao Li, Peng Zhou, and Wen Wen, 2023. "Distributed Renewable Energy Investment: The Effect of Time-of-Use Pricing," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    11. Gustavo Leite Gonçalves & Raphael Abrahão & Paulo Rotella Junior & Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, 2022. "Economic Feasibility of Conventional and Building-Integrated Photovoltaics Implementation in Brazil," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Kosmadakis, Ioannis E. & Elmasides, Costas & Koulinas, Georgios & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2021. "Energy unit cost assessment of six photovoltaic-battery configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 24-41.
    13. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik, 2021. "Dataset for the Solar Incident Radiation and Electricity Production BIPV/BAPV System on the Northern/Southern Façade in Dense Urban Areas," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-15, May.
    14. Shen, Wei & Chen, Xi & Qiu, Jing & Hayward, Jennifier A & Sayeef, Saad & Osman, Peter & Meng, Ke & Dong, Zhao Yang, 2020. "A comprehensive review of variable renewable energy levelized cost of electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    15. Maria del Carmen Gomez-Rios & Dora Carmen Galvez-Cruz, 2021. "Simulation of Levelized Costs of Electricity Considering Externalities," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 16(4), pages 1-23, Octubre -.
    16. Carattini, Stefano & Gillingham, Kenneth & Meng, Xiangyu & Yoeli, Erez, 2024. "Peer-to-peer solar and social rewards: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 340-370.
    17. Wang, Dongxue & Fan, Ruguo & Yang, Peiwen & Du, Kang & Xu, Xiaoxia & Chen, Rongkai, 2024. "Research on floating real-time pricing strategy for microgrid operator in local energy market considering shared energy storage leasing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 368(C).
    18. Atsu, Divine & Seres, Istvan & Aghaei, Mohammadreza & Farkas, Istvan, 2020. "Analysis of long-term performance and reliability of PV modules under tropical climatic conditions in sub-Saharan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 285-295.
    19. Eid Gul & Giorgio Baldinelli & Pietro Bartocci, 2022. "Energy Transition: Renewable Energy-Based Combined Heat and Power Optimization Model for Distributed Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Zhou, Yuekuan & Lund, Peter D., 2023. "Peer-to-peer energy sharing and trading of renewable energy in smart communities ─ trading pricing models, decision-making and agent-based collaboration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 177-193.

    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:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2531-:d:545236. 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.