Conditions for photovoltaics deployment in the UK: The role of policy and technical developments

Abstract The article discusses the conditions necessary to foster photovoltaic (PV) technologies deployment within the UK electricity sector. It explores the incentives to invest in PV technologies by assessing the financial viability of PV system investments in the UK. The analysis focuses on a set of target PV technologies and applications for the domestic sector. First, it provides a picture of profitability and incentives to invest in the targeted PV systems under current UK market, technical, and regulatory conditions. Then, the analysis looks at the role of policy and potential future technological development by exploring the impact of alternative policy instruments and technology cost reductions on the financial viability of investing in PV. The analysis shows that domestic PV investments are generally not profitable under current cost, market, and regulatory conditions. The initial capital costs are too high and the current policy framework is not enough to make PV systems financially viable. The introduction of high-enough feed-in tariffs, as well as the achievement of target cost reductions, would make PV systems financially attractive and would likely increase PV deployment in the UK.

[1]  M. Coller,et al.  Eliciting Individual Discount Rates , 1999 .

[2]  D. Toke.  Making the UK Renewables Programme FITTER , 2007 .

[3]  Stephen Dow.  Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 , 2007 .

[4]  Gabrial Anandarajah,et al.  UK MARKAL Model Documentation , 2007 .

[5]  C. N. Jardine,et al.  THE STATUS OF THE UK DOMESTIC PV MARKET – A REVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF THE LOW CARBON BUILDINGS PROGRAMME Dr , 2009 .

[6]  A. Maldonado,et al.  Physical properties of ZnO:F obtained from a fresh and aged solution of zinc acetate and zinc acetylacetonate , 2006 .

[7]  Kenny Robert,et al.  Long Term Stability of a-Si:H Thin Film Modules , 2006 .

[8]  Stefano Serafini,et al.  Outdoor ESTER test facility for advanced technologies PV modules , 2008, 2008 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

[9]  A. Jäger-Waldau.  PV STATUS REPORT 2008 , 2008 .

[10]  David Toke,et al.  Renewable financial support systems and cost-effectiveness , 2007 .

[11]  G. Barbose,et al.  Tracking the Sun: The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the U.S. from 1998-2007 , 2009 .

[12]  J. Lesser,et al.  Design of an economically efficient feed-in tariff structure for renewable energy development , 2008 .

[13]  Patrick E. McSharry,et al.  ASSESSING PHOTOVOLTAIC PERFORMANCE USING LOCAL LINEAR QUANTILE REGRESSION , 2006 .

[14]  Catherine Mitchell,et al.  Effectiveness through risk reduction: a comparison of the renewable obligation in England and Wales and the feed-in system in Germany , 2006 .

[15]  Carl R. Osterwald,et al.  Stability of CIS/CIGS modules at the outdoor test facility over two decades , 2008, 2008 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

[16]  K.W. Jansen,et al.  The Advantages of Amorphous Silicon Photovoltaic Modules in Grid-Tied Systems , 2006, 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conference.

[17]  Josie Close,et al.  Efficiency model for photovoltaic modules and demonstration of its application to energy yield estimation , 2007 .

[18]  James Keirstead,et al.  Behavioural responses to photovoltaic systems in the UK domestic sector , 2007 .

[19]  Danièle Revel,et al.  PV status report , 2011 .

[20]  R. Ruther,et al.  Performance test of amorphous silicon modules in different climates - year four: Progress in understanding exposure history stabilization effects , 2008, 2008 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

[21]  Jerry A. Hausman,et al.  Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables , 1979 .

[22]  Incentives to Invest in Electricity Production from Renewable Energy under Different Support Schemes , 2008 .

[23]  G. Schaeffer,et al.  Photovoltaic Experiences Synthesis report of the Photex-project , 2004 .

[24]  Pablo del Río,et al.  An integrated assessment of the feed-in tariff system in Spain , 2007 .

[25]  Patrick James,et al.  Unlocking the power house: policy and system change for domestic micro-generation in the UK , 2006 .

[26]  Daniel M. Riley,et al.  Comparison of PV system performance-model predictions with measured PV system performance , 2008, 2008 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

[27]  AbuBakr S. Bahaj,et al.  Urban energy generation: The added value of photovoltaics in social housing , 2007 .

[28]  Miguel Mendonça.  Feed-in tariffs , 2007 .

[29]  C. Harmon,et al.  Experience Curves of Photovoltaic Technology , 2000 .

[30]  Christian N. Jardine,et al.  PV-COMPARE: Direct Comparison of Eleven PV Technologies at Two Locations in Northern and Southern Europe , 2001 .

[31]  Christian N. Jardine.  PV-COMPARE: RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF PHTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES IN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE , 2002 .

[32]  J. Sandeman,et al.  Feed‐In Tariffs: Accelerating the Deployment of Renewable Energy , 2010 .

[33]  Jaeger-Waldau Arnulf,et al.  A Strategic Research Agenda for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Technology - Research and development in support of realizing the Vision for Photovoltaic Technology , 2007 .

[34]  George Makrides,et al.  Outdoor efficiency of different photovoltaic systems installed in Cyprus and Germany , 2008, 2008 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference.

[35]  Mario Ragwitz,et al.  Evaluation of different feed-in tariff design options – Best practice paper for the International Feed-In Cooperation , 2008 .