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The state of California is the foremost leader in solar photovoltaics (PV) installations in the United States. With 1,390,240 installations and 24.76% of the state's energy coming from solar, the demand for PV modules is steadily increasing. Most PV modules have an expected lifetime of 25-30 years. However, due to repowering or early module failure, module lifetime can often be shorter than anticipated. Current studies calculate the environmental impact of PV systems based on ideal installation conditions and a full 25-year module lifetime. This study considers the impact on the life cycle of PV systems from early PV module retirement and actual system installation in California. Using the life cycle cumulative energy demand, electricity data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and greenhouse gases, carbon payback time (CPBT) was evaluated. Data from various PV module rooftop residential installations in 2019 were collected from the California NEM database. Information on the system design (tilt, azimuth, module model) and module specification sheets were used to calculate the cumulative electricity generated in kilowatt-hours (kWh) over the system' lifetime. The calculated average CPBT was 2.8 years, shorter than most of the system lifetimes, and the mean number of zero carbon years experienced by earlier retired systems was about 5 years. Although the rapid movement towards solar energy is promising and essential as reliance on greener energy increases, attention must be paid to the diverse lifespans of PV modules, system design, and performance to substantiate or reject the assumption that PV always have a positive impact on the environment.
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Analysis of Pricing Trends and Grid Parity of Photovoltaic Systems
As an alternative, cleaner energy source, solar power is becoming a much bigger player in how electricity is generated and consumed. To assess how economically-viable solar power is in comparison to other forms of electricity, factors such as the return on investment (ROI) can be calculated. In addition, based on the average lifetime of an average photovoltaic (PV) system, energy purchase reduction, and revenue that can be generated by selling excess electricity back to the power grid, the economic viability of solar energy can be determined. The capital and commissioning cost of a PV system will continue to be a major factor in how viable a PV system will be. Thus, observing the trend in PV system costs over the past years will yield a point of grid parity, when solar becomes competitive with existing forms of energy generation, and show the most beneficial time frame for the customer to install the PV system. This paper seeks to provide some insight on how economic using solar energy can be.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1659882
- PAR ID:
- 10090868
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2018 CIGRE US National Committee (USNC) Grid of the Future (GOTF) Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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