Post Feed-in Scheme Photovoltaic System Feasibility Evaluation in Italy: Sicilian Case Studies

Energies

Riccardo Squatrito²  Filippo Sgroi¹  Salvatore Tudisca²  Anna Maria Di Trapani²  Riccardo Testa² 

[1] Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, Italy;

关键词: photovoltaic (PV) system;    greenhouse;    levelized cost of electricity (LCOE);    net metering;    profitability analysis;    sensitivity analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en7117147

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Thanks to national energy policies, over recent years the Italian photovoltaic (PV) sector has undergone an extraordinary growth, also affecting the primary sector. In this context, Mediterranean greenhouses are well-adapted to photovoltaic systems because they represent one of the most energy-intensive sectors in agriculture. The Italian feed-in scheme ended at the beginning of 2013, making it necessary to investigate the feasibility of photovoltaic systems devoid of any electricity production-related incentives. In this paper, production cost and profitability analyses of photovoltaic electricity have been conducted, considering Mediterranean solar greenhouses in which, thanks to net metering, all the electricity produced by photovoltaic panels is self-consumed. Our results showed that grid parity is already reached for Sicilian PV systems with a capacity greater than 50 kW. Moreover, net present value, internal rate of return and discounted payback time all demonstrate the high economic convenience of all the photovoltaic investments analyzed, due to the huge savings on energy expenditures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.