Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaics

Fthenakis, Vasilis

doi:10.1002/9781118927496.ch57

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For determining the EPBT and the GHG footprint per kWh of produced electricity, the energy yield of the systems, and thus insolation and consequently location, are of great importance. The values here refer to standardised conditions: insolation of 1,700 kWh m −1 y −1 and a performance ratio ( PR ) of 0.75, based on methodology guidelines from21. Recent meta-analyses of LCA studies on crystalline PV systems established average values for environmental footprint of PV systems, and found energy payback times to be 3.1 and 4.1 years for poly and mono-Si, respectively22, based on studies conducted between 2005 and 2013.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Re-assessment of net energy production and greenhouse gas emissions avoidance after 40 years of photovoltaics development

et al. 2016

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Since the 1970s, installed solar photovoltaic capacity has grown tremendously to 230 gigawatt worldwide in 2015, with a growth rate between 1975 and 2015 of 45%. This rapid growth has led to concerns regarding the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of photovoltaics production. We present a review of 40 years of photovoltaics development, analysing the development of energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions associated with photovoltaics production. Here we show strong downward trends of environmental impact of photovoltaics production, following the experience curve law. For every doubling of installed photovoltaic capacity, energy use decreases by 13 and 12% and greenhouse gas footprints by 17 and 24%, for poly- and monocrystalline based photovoltaic systems, respectively. As a result, we show a break-even between the cumulative disadvantages and benefits of photovoltaics, for both energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, occurs between 1997 and 2018, depending on photovoltaic performance and model uncertainties.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only in 2009, standardised methodology guidelines specifically for PV systems were published38 as a result of an IEA PVPS project specifically focusing on the environmental impact of PV (Task 12). These guidelines were updated in 201121, although the practice of performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was standardised first in 1997.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-assessment of net energy production and greenhouse gas emissions avoidance after 40 years of photovoltaics development

et al. 2016

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“…The degradation phenomena of the modules reduces the efficiency of the system over time [23] and consequently, the predicted solar production of the PV system and its economic payback period analysis is affected by this issue. The methodology guidelines on the lifecycle assessment of PV systems statements, recommends considering a linear degradation, reaching 80% of the initial efficiency at the end of a 30 years lifetime (i.e., 0.7% per year) [23], [31].…”

Section: ) Degradation Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is commonly assumed that performance ratios (PR) for PV systems lie between 75-90% due to losses generated in the inverter, wiring, and module soiling [21]- [23]. Therefore, a PR value of 0.80 is assumed for this work.…”

Section: ) Performance Ratio (Pv System Losses)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of the Self-Consumption Regulation for Photovoltaic Systems with Battery Banks in the Portuguese Residential Sector

Rodrigues¹,

Faria²,

Cafofo³

et al. 2017

JOCET

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Abstract-Following recent trends in the developed countries, Portugal recently cut down the Feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic energy. They are now based on the Iberian market average (around 0.04€/kWh) while the final consumer electricity price is 0.16€/kWh. In this view, the PV system should be dimensioned for self-consumption since injecting into the grid produces less revenue. The motivation for the current work was to analyse the changes due to this new regulation, through the analysis of the economic feasibility of different size PV systems (1kW, 3kW, and 5kW), considering the selfconsumption regime with a battery bank as an option. We also compare the most profitable cities in Portugal with and without the use of a battery bank. The results show that the PV systems with battery banks are not as profitable as standalone PV systems in the Portuguese self-consumption regime. This is mainly due to the high price of the battery bank. In general, the mainland results are better than the islands for the 1kW and 3kW PV systems. In spite of the higher initial investment cost, the islands present better results for the 5kW PV system. In general, it can be stated that the investment in PV systems is highly conditioned by external economical factors that continuously change and the current work analyses the current situation in Portugal for different installed powers with or without battery banks.

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Energy balance and carbon footprint of verylarge‐scalephotovoltaic power plant

Pamponet

Maranduba²,

Neto

et al. 2021

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Considering Brazil an important player in the global market for the electricity production from solar sources and the recent investments in large power plants through public policies, this work evaluated a very large‐scale commercial photovoltaic power plant (VLS‐PVPP) performing an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) in accordance with ISO 14040/44 standards. The comparative results obtained, for 18 impact categories, show that the use of global data tends to overestimate the impacts of energy production in the VLS‐PVPP implemented in Brazil, by at least double. When establishing scenarios for different regions of the Brazilian territory, the energy performance and emissions indicators used varied around 17% due to the high sensitivity of the solarimetric radiation index in the modeling. The carbon footprint ranged between 38.3 and 44.8 kgCO2eq/kWh, and the energy payback time (EPBT) ranged between 4.5 and 5.3 years. The fossil energy replacement ratio (FER) indicator was calculated to quantify the power plant sustainability, which, in the best scenario, showed that the system replenishes, with clean energy, 7.7 times the fossil energy used in its construction. The sensitivity study associated with the uncertainty analysis for the manufacturing location of photovoltaic modules showed little influence (about 1%) on these indicators, showing that the decision to import or manufacture PV modules does not involve an environmental bias, overturning this hypothesis. Furthermore, the sensitivity study of the photovoltaic modules showed that the multicrystalline silicon technology is still the best choice compared to the monocrystalline one, since the latter increased the environmental cost of the evaluated indicators by 20%.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaics

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Re-assessment of net energy production and greenhouse gas emissions avoidance after 40 years of photovoltaics development

Re-assessment of net energy production and greenhouse gas emissions avoidance after 40 years of photovoltaics development

Analysis of the Self-Consumption Regulation for Photovoltaic Systems with Battery Banks in the Portuguese Residential Sector

Energy balance and carbon footprint of verylarge‐scalephotovoltaic power plant

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