Assessment of urban-scale potential for solar PV generation and consumption

Abstract

The rise of grid electricity price and a growing awareness of climate change is resulting in an increasing number of photovoltaic facilities installed in buildings. Electricity market regulation and climatic conditions, in particular solar radiation, are the main factors that determine the economic viability of a photovoltaic facility. This paper describes a method for evaluating the potential for photovoltaic (PV) production and self-consumption for the building stock of a particular city. A GIS 3D city map is used to calculate solar irradiation. Building-level electricity use is calculated based on building type, geometry and other characteristic inferred from building age, taking the cadastre GIS as main input. The methodology identifies the realistic potential for rooftop photovoltaic installations, as well as the optimum size to be installed from an economic perspective. To represent different regulations that can affect economic viability of PV installations, calculations should adapt for the specific installation conditions and regulatory situation, as for example self-consumption and net metering. The proposed methodology is applied to a case study in Irun (Spain), where results for potential of PV generation and self-consumption for the building stock are presented. The results offer public administration a realistic view of economically viable PV potential for the city and allow to analyse different mechanisms to promote their installations. It also serves for individual electricity consumers to evaluate and optimize new photovoltaic energy facilities. Finally, it serves policy makers to estimate the repercussion of electricity market regulations on the economic viability of PV systems.

Trends and Evolution of the GIS-Based Photovoltaic Potential Calculation

“…PR is generally about 80%, a percentage considered in three studies [12,38,83]. Similar values, in the range of ±5%, are adopted in [46,58,67]. Pedrero et al [67] calculated the PV potential based on two different PR values, 79% and 83%, much closer to each other compared to the values used by El-Bouzaidi et al [33], 66% and 85%.…”

“…Similar values, in the range of ±5%, are adopted in [46,58,67]. Pedrero et al [67] calculated the PV potential based on two different PR values, 79% and 83%, much closer to each other compared to the values used by El-Bouzaidi et al [33], 66% and 85%. This 19% difference would lead to considerable discrepancies between production values in comparable contexts, thus highlighting the need for a reliable supporting system.…”

“…The multiple options it gives in terms of producible outputs lead to different usages in the analyzed studies. For instance, Agugiaro et al [13] chose to focus on the direct component only because of the interest the authors had in shadowing, while Liang et al [54] considered global radiation as a whole and Nex et al [67] disaggregated it into basic components. Similarly to [28], Ref.…”

“…It also uses the DSM as the principal input, together with a climatic file in the Energy Plus Weather format, outputting a global radiation map. It was used in two cases in Spain, namely for the city of Irun in [67] and the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in [70]. An UMEP plugin called SEBE-Solar Energy on Building Envelopes-which can also calculate irradiance from a DSM on vertical elements, was used by Aleksandrowicz et al [15].…”

Towards a Renewable Energy Source Cadastre—A Review of Examples from around the World

“…In Switzerland, studies have been carried out on the concept that a solar cadastre could serve as a tool for urban planning and monitoring [67]. In Spain, the analysis of solar potential was contrasted with energy consumption; calculations were carried out at the building level for the city of Irun [68].…”