The Impact of Rate Design and Net Metering on the Bill Savings from Distributed PV for Residential Customers in California

The world’s demand for electrical energy is increasing rapidly while the use of fossil fuels is getting limited more and more by energy policies and the need for reducing the impact of climate change. New sources of energy are required to fulfill the world’s demand for electricity and they are currently found in renewable sources of energy, especially in solar and wind power. Choosing the optimal PV nominal power minimizes the unnecessary surplus of electrical energy that is exported to the grid and thus is not making any impact on the grid more than necessary. Oversizing the PV system according to the Croatian net-metering model results in switching the calculation of the costs to the prosumer model which results in a decrease of the project’s net present value (NPV) and an increase in the payback period (PP). This paper focuses on formulating and solving the optimization problem for determining the optimal nominal power of a grid-connected PV system with a case study for Croatia using multiple scenarios in the variability of electricity production and consumption. In this paper, PV systems are simulated in the power range that corresponds to a typical annual high-tariff consumption in Croatian households. Choosing the optimal power of the PV system maximizes the investor’s NPV of the project as well as savings on the electricity costs. The PP is also minimized and is determined by the PV production, household consumption, discount rate, and geographic location. The optimization problem is classified as a quadratically constrained discrete optimization problem, where the value of the optimal PV power is not a continuous variable because the PV power changes with a step of one PV panel power. Modeling and simulations are implemented in Python using the Gurobi optimization solver.

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Net-Metering vs. Net-Billing from the Investors Perspective—Impacts of Changes in RES Financing in Poland on the Profitability of a Joint Photovoltaic Panels and Heat Pump System

Energies ◽

10.3390/en15010227 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 227

Author(s):

Mariusz Trela ◽

Anna Dubel

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Heat Pump ◽

Net Present Value ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Pump System ◽

Heat Pump System ◽

Photovoltaic Panels ◽

Profitability Analysis ◽

Net Metering ◽

The Impact

The paper explores the impacts of changes in renewable energy sources (RES) financing in Poland on the profitability of coupled photovoltaic panels and heat pump systems. The profitability analysis is conducted with the use of Net Present Value calculation and the return on investment period. The degree of change in profitability of using photovoltaic panels in Poland is dependent on the method of their financing. The analysis is carried out for two different photovoltaic support schemes: (1) the net-metering scheme currently in force in Poland; (2) the net-billing system scheduled for implementation in the year 2022. It is assumed for the analysis that two alternative heating and electricity supply systems for a single-family building will be operated: (a) a standard solution used in Poland consisting of a natural gas-fired boiler for heating and the purchase of electricity from the power grid, (b) an air/water heat pump used to heat the building, and electricity obtained from photovoltaic panels, also used to power the heat pump. A sensitivity analysis is carried out, examining the impact of several key parameters relevant for the profitability of such investments, such as average annual increase in the purchasing or selling prices of electricity, purchasing prices of natural gas, and inflation rate. The conclusions concern the possible consequences of introducing a new support scheme for photovoltaics in Poland. The highest profitability of all considered solutions is for the current scenario for heat pump and pv installation with the capacity to meet the demand in the last year of operation. The introduction of changes in the new RES law (2021) in Poland will reduce the profitability of investments in pv panels, leading to a slowdown in the investments in the pv installations.

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The Economics of Residential Solar and Battery Storage: Analyzing the Impact of the Joint IOU Proposal for Net Metering 3.0 in California

Low Carbon Economy ◽

10.4236/lce.2021.124007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (04) ◽

pp. 137-150

Author(s):

Candace E. Ybarra ◽

Prashanth U. Nyer ◽

John B. Broughton ◽

Thomas A. Turk

Keyword(s):

Battery Storage ◽

Net Metering ◽

The Impact

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The impact of net metering on the residential rooftop PV market

Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 2000 (Cat. No.00CH37036) ◽

10.1109/pvsc.2000.916152 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

A.M. Payne ◽

R.D. Duke ◽

R.H. Williams

Keyword(s):

Net Metering ◽

The Impact

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Industrial Power Rates in the Mid-Eighties

Journal of Engineering for Power ◽

10.1115/1.3446234 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 98 (4) ◽

pp. 547-552

Author(s):

R. M. Keith ◽

G. R. Morris ◽

B. Mangione

Keyword(s):

Fossil Fuel ◽

Electrical Power ◽

Construction Costs ◽

Plant Construction ◽

Financing Costs ◽

Rate Base ◽

Capital Financing ◽

Rate Design ◽

The Impact ◽

Fuel Costs

The full impact of higher cost fuel and plant construction costs have not been factored into today’s industrial electrical power rates. New power plant units committed in the late sixties and early seventies at sharply higher costs, higher financing charges and the phasing in of higher fossil fuel costs will create the need for sizeable rate increases over the next eight to ten years. This paper presents one technique for forecasting future industrial rates which takes into account the impact of the major parameters of fuel, cost of capital (financing) and the utility’s rate base on the development of customer class revenue. A sensitivity analysis is included which examines the effect of changes in fuel costs, new rate design proposals and financing costs. It is shown that these variations will add from 0.72 to 1.85 cents/kWh to the projected base rate of 2.85 cents/kWh in 1985. This is a total increase of over 94–154 percent compared to the actual rate of 1.85 cents/kWh in 1974.

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