A comprehensive approach to assessing PV system economics and opportunities for PV policies

Hyun-Jin Julie Yu (1, 2) , Nathalie Popiolek (1, 2) , Patrice Geoffron (3, 4, 5)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 TECH ECO (ex-ITESE) - Institut Technico-Economie
3 LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine
4 LEDA-CGEMP - Centre de Géopolitique de l’Energie et des Matières Premières
5 Chaire EEM - Chaire European Electricity Markets

The price of PV modules has fallen below $1/Wp in many countries. Non-module prices have become critical factors to assessing PV system economics. This study sets out to review the price of residential PV systems in a comprehensive manner while looking for cost drivers to improve their economic competitiveness. The relation between the market size and price drop in the non-module sector is reviewed in this paper. In addition, this article investigates opportunities for using policy instruments to help reduce non-module costs of PV systems in Europe (e.g. standardization, etc.). In doing so, it shows how harmonized policy instruments on a regional level can reduce non-module prices of residential PV systems in Europe by benefiting from the experience of German practice (e.g. low nonmodule prices) and the size of the European market.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Physics [physics]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

Hyun-Jin Julie Yu, Nathalie Popiolek, Patrice Geoffron. A comprehensive approach to assessing PV system economics and opportunities for PV policies. EEM15 - 12th International Conference on the European Energy Market, May 2012, Lisbonne, Portugal. ⟨cea-02509720⟩