The price of solar energy: Comparing competitive auctions for utility-scale solar PV in developing countries

Dobrotkova, Zuzana; Surana, Kavita; Audinet, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.03.036

Cited by 116 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Observed risks include utilities delaying payments (Shrimali and Reicher, 2017;Chawla et al, 2018), utilities attempting to renegotiate prices during the project development and operation phases (Kenning, 2017a), and land access and transmission delays facing solar parks (Asian Power, 2018). Indian rupees/kWh 2018; Dobrotkova et al, 2018). Environmental impact assessments and other project prerequisites have also been handled by the government, which has reduced cost duplication.…”

Section: Figure 6: India's Reverse Auction Price History: Minimum Primentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The trend towards reverse auctions for renewables projects has also been global, with auctions in countries such as Chile and the United Arab Emirates delivering low long-term procurement prices (IRENA, 2017d; Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre/BNEF, 2018; REN21, 2018). The lowest prices for utility-scale solar PV have been in locations with low land costs, good solar insolation, and de-risked investment environments (IRENA, 2017a;Dobrotkova et al, 2018). 6 The use of reverse auctions differs from the early phase of solar adoption in developed countries such as Germany and Australia, where the focus was on incentivising small-scale solar through premium feed-in tariffs.…”

Section: Figure 6: India's Reverse Auction Price History: Minimum Primentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This remains the case throughout Indonesia's electricity sector. Given thin domestic solar expertise, competition was limited (Dobrotkova et al, 2018). There was a lack of information on development sites, limited grid capacity in tendered regions (contributing to off-take risk), and a window of only two weeks for developers to prepare their bid documentation.…”

Section: Indonesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overcoming barriers to solar and wind energy adoption in two Asian giants: India and Indonesia

et al. 2019

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Solar and wind electricity generation technologies have become cost competitive and account for a growing share of global investment in new electricity generation capacity. Both India and Indonesia have ambitious targets for adoption of these technologies, and India has an impressive current rate of uptake. Substantial obstacles exist, however, including the entrenched positions of coal and other fossil fuels, regulatory barriers to market access, and weak abilities of electricity utilities to manage intermittent renewables. This paper reviews these obstacles and discusses strategies to overcome them. We focus on the use of reverse auction processes able to deliver low-price solar and wind contracts, as are being successfully employed in India, on tax and subsidy reform options, on regulatory and incentive-design strategies, on approaches to bolster grid management capacities, and on the importance of minimising protectionist barriers. Our analysis covers both small-scale and large-scale systems.

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Section: Figure 6: India's Reverse Auction Price History: Minimum Primentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figure 6: India's Reverse Auction Price History: Minimum Primentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Indonesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overcoming barriers to solar and wind energy adoption in two Asian giants: India and Indonesia

et al. 2019

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“…For guaranteed success, this mechanism considers "a schedule, volume disclosure, price ceilings, penalties, streamline of administrative procedures and information provision to the participants", but it depends on the government's priorities, implying a trade-off between criteria [138]. This competitive bidding process also involves upfront guarantees to reduce the financing risk, especially in developing countries [139]. In mainland Ecuador, the Ministry of Energy has recently launched an auction scheme to leverage resources for 500 MW of PV, wind and hydro projects through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for 20 years.…”

Section: Business Model Proposal For Re Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decarbonizing the Galapagos Islands: Techno-Economic Perspectives for the Hybrid Renewable Mini-Grid Baltra–Santa Cruz

et al. 2020

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The fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands is being affected by population growth, intensive tourism, the exploitation of local resources and the high consumption of imported fossil fuels. This unsustainable development model makes the provision of services such as electricity a challenge. This research investigates the hybrid renewable mini-grid Baltra-Santa Cruz, which represents 62% of the electricity generation mix of the archipelago. This study aims to support the Galapagos Zero Fossil Fuel Initiative and the Sustainable Development Goal 7 through the reduction in diesel consumption and electricity generation costs. To do so, HOMER Pro, a specialized hybrid renewable mini-grid planning tool, is used to perform several techno-economic assessments, focusing on different electricity demand scenarios. Therefore, multiple pathways are compared to identify the most reliable alternatives towards the progressive decarbonization of this hybrid system. The results indicate that installing 18.25 MWp of photovoltaic and 20.68 MWh of battery capacity could reduce the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) from 32.06 to 18.95 USc/kWh, increasing the renewable energy (RE) share from 18% to 39%. Additionally, the successful application of energy efficiency measures would even reduce the LCOE to 17.10 USc/kWh. What is more, distributed energy is considered the most attractive way to involve islanders in the energy transition process. Finally, this paper offers a comprehensive business model proposal to achieve a resilient energy supply, based on a combination of auctions and energy community models, which demands high political will, reliable and innovative regulations and social awareness about energy use.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2282 4 of 47 and implement RE projects. In addition, the Ecuadorian Electricity Master Plan (PME) 2016-2025 [44] contains the list of priority projects to increase renewable electricity generation. Moreover, those possible new partners can propose additional RE initiatives thanks to the General Regulation of the LOSPEE. This regulation [43] is based on the targets of the National Plan of Development 2017Development -2021 which prioritize RE resources exploitation to reduce the dependency of fossil fuels. What is more, new companies interested in developing RE projects can receive an income-tax-exemption for five years [46].As regards distributed generation, the photovoltaic microgeneration to electricity self-sufficiency for final consumers of electricity regulation [47] and its amendment [48] promote the installation of PV systems up to 300 kWp per user in the residential sector and below 1000 kWp per user in the commercial and industrial sectors. This regulation is not limited to rooftop PV systems. A net-metering scheme is applied to compensate electricity costs. Thanks to this mechanism, consumers are billed for their "net" electricity use and the associated costs become credits for the following months if the electricity balance is positive for users. [47]. The National Rate Schedule for ...

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“…Sustainability 2019, 11, 4301 2 of 20Akin to any technology, both DG and utility-scale PV bring about strengths and weaknesses. Utility-scale solar farms, for example, benefit from economies of scale and are easier for electricity companies to manage from a central planning perspective [14]. However, land availability makes utility-scale deployment difficult within cities and even more so in city centers.On the other side of the spectrum, DG scale solar systems surmount the large land area requirements, and empower the consumer [15].…”

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confidence: 99%

The Upper Limit of Distributed Solar PV Capacity in Riyadh: A GIS-Assisted Study

Elshurafa

Muhsen

2019

Sustainability

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Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, commonly referred to as distributed generation (DG) solar systems, are deemed important contenders in future sustainable cities. Because deploying DG systems is associated with technical, financial, policy, and market implications that impact utilities, governments, and businesses, quantifying the potential of DG systems that could be deployed in a certain jurisdiction ex ante helps inform the decision-making process for all stakeholders. To that end, the upper limit of rooftop PV systems that could be deployed in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was assessed with the aid of geographic information systems (GIS). By relying on urban land lot data for different categories, i.e., zones, and the maximum allowable area that could be built within a certain lot using prevailing building codes and regulations, the rooftop area suitable for PV deployment within Riyadh Metro was quantified. The analysis was restricted to rooftops in residential, mosque, shopping mall, and health care buildings only. Following the quantification of the rooftop area, the upper limit of rooftop solar PV capacity that can be deployed in the city of Riyadh was found to be 4.34 GW. This capacity represents nearly 22% of the peak load and can satisfy approximately 9% of the energy requirement in the central region, the region in which Riyadh resides. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4301 2 of 20Akin to any technology, both DG and utility-scale PV bring about strengths and weaknesses. Utility-scale solar farms, for example, benefit from economies of scale and are easier for electricity companies to manage from a central planning perspective [14]. However, land availability makes utility-scale deployment difficult within cities and even more so in city centers.On the other side of the spectrum, DG scale solar systems surmount the large land area requirements, and empower the consumer [15]. As the homeowner (or industrial facility, for example) self-consumes whatever is generated, this reduces the electricity bill. Further, if exporting energy back to the grid is possible and is compensated for, then the homeowner, depending on his consumption level [16], can receive credit for the exported energy [17]. This consumer empowerment [18], which transforms him/her to a prosumer (i.e., a consumer and a producer simultaneously), is of particular appeal especially in countries where the prevailing electricity prices are high. On the other hand, DG systems could cause instabilities in the distribution network [19], and hence, the electric utility has to adopt new operational procedures to avoid such incidents.Governments that have promoted renewable energy deployment were generally propelled by three main drivers: Reducing carbon emissions, boosting the economy by creating a renewable energy industry and creating jobs, and achieving higher energy security levels [20]. These objectives would be achieved by tying them to a renewable energy target installation capacity, and this target would have stemmed from a grand strateg...

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The price of solar energy: Comparing competitive auctions for utility-scale solar PV in developing countries

Cited by 116 publications

References 18 publications

Overcoming barriers to solar and wind energy adoption in two Asian giants: India and Indonesia

Overcoming barriers to solar and wind energy adoption in two Asian giants: India and Indonesia

Decarbonizing the Galapagos Islands: Techno-Economic Perspectives for the Hybrid Renewable Mini-Grid Baltra–Santa Cruz

The Upper Limit of Distributed Solar PV Capacity in Riyadh: A GIS-Assisted Study

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