IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i4p890-d1590210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Investments in Solar Photovoltaics as Inflation Hedges

Author

Listed:
  • Seyyed Ali Sadat

    (Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada)

  • Kashish Mittal

    (Ivey School of Business, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada)

  • Joshua M. Pearce

    (Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada
    Ivey School of Business, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada)

Abstract

Mainstream strategies for protecting wealth from inflation involve diversification into traditional assets like common stocks, gold, fixed-income securities, and real estate. However, a significant contributor to inflation has been the rising energy prices, which have been the main underlying cause of several past recessions and high inflation periods. Investments in distributed generation with solar photovoltaics (PV) present a promising opportunity to hedge against inflation, considering non-taxed profits from PV energy generation. To investigate that potential, this study quantifies the return on investment (ROI), internal rate of return (IRR), payback period, net present cost, and levelized cost of energy of PV by running Solar Alone Multi-Objective Advisor (SAMA) simulations on grid-connected PV systems across different regions with varying inflation scenarios. The case studies are San Diego, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Historical inflation data are also imposed on San Diego to assess PV system potential in dynamic inflammatory conditions, while Boston and Santiago additionally analyze hybrid PV-battery systems to understand battery impacts under increasing inflation rates. Net metering credits vary by location. The results showed that PV could be used as an effective inflation hedge in any region where PV started economically and provided increasingly attractive returns as inflation increased, particularly when taxes were considered. The varying values of the ROI and IRR underscore the importance of region-specific financial planning and the need to consider inflation when evaluating the long-term viability of PV systems. Finally, more capital-intensive PV systems with battery storage can become profitable in an inflationary economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Seyyed Ali Sadat & Kashish Mittal & Joshua M. Pearce, 2025. "Using Investments in Solar Photovoltaics as Inflation Hedges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-27, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:4:p:890-:d:1590210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/4/890/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/4/890/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fan, Ying & Xu, Jin-Hua, 2011. "What has driven oil prices since 2000? A structural change perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1082-1094.
    2. Stefania D'Amico & Thomas B. King, 2023. "One Asset Does Not Fit All: Inflation Hedging by Index and Horizon," Working Paper Series WP 2023-08, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    3. Ahn, Hyeunguk & Rim, Donghyun & Pavlak, Gregory S. & Freihaut, James D., 2019. "Uncertainty analysis of energy and economic performances of hybrid solar photovoltaic and combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP + PV) systems using a Monte-Carlo method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    4. Bodie, Zvi, 1976. "Common Stocks as a Hedge against Inflation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(2), pages 459-470, May.
    5. Tervo, Eric & Agbim, Kenechi & DeAngelis, Freddy & Hernandez, Jeffrey & Kim, Hye Kyung & Odukomaiya, Adewale, 2018. "An economic analysis of residential photovoltaic systems with lithium ion battery storage in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1057-1066.
    6. Marczinkowski, Hannah Mareike & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2018. "Residential versus communal combination of photovoltaic and battery in smart energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 466-475.
    7. Arnold, Stephan & Auer, Benjamin R., 2015. "What do scientists know about inflation hedging?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 187-214.
    8. Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Mudida, Robert & Carcel, Hector, 2017. "Shocks affecting electricity prices in Kenya, a fractional integration study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 521-530.
    9. Emily Prehoda & Joshua M. Pearce & Chelsea Schelly, 2019. "Policies to Overcome Barriers for Renewable Energy Distributed Generation: A Case Study of Utility Structure and Regulatory Regimes in Michigan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, February.
    10. Ganepola, Chanaka N. & Shubita, Moade & Lee, Lillian, 2023. "The electric shock: Causes and consequences of electricity prices in the United Kingdom," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    11. Laurence Ball & Stephen G. Cecchetti, 1990. "Inflation and Uncertainty at Long and Short Horizons," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 21(1), pages 215-254.
    12. Dekimpe, Marnik G. & van Heerde, Harald J., 2023. "Retailing in times of soaring inflation: What we know, what we don't know, and a research agenda," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 322-336.
    13. Ioannis Dokas & Georgios Oikonomou & Minas Panagiotidis & Eleftherios Spyromitros, 2023. "Macroeconomic and Uncertainty Shocks’ Effects on Energy Prices: A Comprehensive Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-35, February.
    14. Bhatti, Abdul Rauf & Salam, Zainal & Aziz, Mohd Junaidi Bin Abdul & Yee, Kong Pui & Ashique, Ratil H., 2016. "Electric vehicles charging using photovoltaic: Status and technological review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 34-47.
    15. Khalilpour, Kaveh Rajab & Vassallo, Anthony, 2016. "Technoeconomic parametric analysis of PV-battery systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 757-768.
    16. von Appen, J. & Braun, M., 2018. "Strategic decision making of distribution network operators and investors in residential photovoltaic battery storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 540-550.
    17. Wolf-Peter Schill & Alexander Zerrahn & Friedrich Kunz, 2019. "Solar Prosumage: An Economic Discussion of Challenges and Opportunities," Springer Books, in: Jens Lowitzsch (ed.), Energy Transition, chapter 29, pages 703-731, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hayibo, Koami Soulemane & Pearce, Joshua M., 2021. "A review of the value of solar methodology with a case study of the U.S. VOS," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    2. Peffley, Trevor B. & Pearce, Joshua M., 2020. "The potential for grid defection of small and medium sized enterprises using solar photovoltaic, battery and generator hybrid systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 193-204.
    3. Bampinas, Georgios & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2016. "Hedging inflation with individual US stocks: A long-run portfolio analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 374-392.
    4. Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Lahiani, Amine & Heller, David, 2016. "Is gold a hedge against inflation? New evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 54-66.
    5. Han, Xuejiao & Garrison, Jared & Hug, Gabriela, 2022. "Techno-economic analysis of PV-battery systems in Switzerland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. Nassar S. Al-Nassar & Razzaque H. Bhatti, 2019. "Are common stocks a hedge against inflation in emerging markets?," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 43(3), pages 421-455, July.
    7. Nikolas G. Chatzigeorgiou & Spyros Theocharides & George Makrides & George E. Georghiou, 2023. "Evaluating the Techno-Economic Effect of Pricing and Consumption Parameters on the Power-to-Energy Ratio for Sizing Photovoltaic-Battery Systems: An Assessment of Prosumers in the Mediterranean Area," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-27, May.
    8. Bošnjak Mile & Novak Ivan & Bašić Maja, 2021. "Capital Market Returns and Inflation Nexus in Croatia: Wavelet Coherence Analysis," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 12(2), pages 253-267, December.
    9. NEIFAR, MALIKA & HACHICHA, Fatma, 2022. "GFH validity for Canada, UK, and Suisse stock markets: Evidence ‎from univariate and panel ARDL models," MPRA Paper 114613, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Khezri, Rahmat & Mahmoudi, Amin & Aki, Hirohisa, 2022. "Optimal planning of solar photovoltaic and battery storage systems for grid-connected residential sector: Review, challenges and new perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    11. Salisu, Afees A. & Adediran, Idris A., 2019. "Assessing the inflation hedging potential of coal and iron ore in Australia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Federica Cucchiella & Idiano D’Adamo & Massimo Gastaldi & Vincenzo Stornelli, 2018. "Solar Photovoltaic Panels Combined with Energy Storage in a Residential Building: An Economic Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-29, August.
    13. Lingfeng Li, 2003. "Macroeconomic Factors and the Correlation of Stock and Bond Returns," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm328, Yale School of Management.
    14. Carpantier, Jean-François, 2021. "Anything but gold - The golden constant revisited," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    15. Zaremba, Adam & Cakici, Nusret & Bianchi, Robert J. & Long, Huaigang, 2023. "Interest rate changes and the cross-section of global equity returns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    16. Dumas, Bernard & Savioz, Marcel René, 2020. "A Theory of the Nominal Character of Stock Securities," CEPR Discussion Papers 15507, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Nicholas Taylor, 1998. "Precious metals and inflation," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 201-210.
    18. Jin‐Yu Chen & Xue‐Hong Zhu & Mei‐Rui Zhong, 2021. "Time‐varying effects and structural change of oil price shocks on industrial output: Evidence from China's oil industrial chain," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3460-3472, July.
    19. Sellin, Peter, 1998. "Monetary Policy and the Stock Market: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Working Paper Series 72, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    20. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    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:18:y:2025:i:4:p:890-:d:1590210. 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.