A Novel Approach to Assessing the Cost Competitiveness of Self-Consumption Photovoltaic Systems
Most existing studies on the cost -competitiveness of self-consumption PV systems fail to jointly consider key technical, economic, and user-specific factors—such as the share of PV electricity self-consumed, energy exported or imported from the grid, and time-of-use elec-tricity pricing—all of whic...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Jaén |
| Repositorio: | RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/7598 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doi.org/10.3390/app16052425 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/16/5/2425 https://hdl.handle.net/10953/7598 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Photovoltaic Cost competitiveness Self-consumption Electricity demand 3322.05 |
| Sumario: | Most existing studies on the cost -competitiveness of self-consumption PV systems fail to jointly consider key technical, economic, and user-specific factors—such as the share of PV electricity self-consumed, energy exported or imported from the grid, and time-of-use elec-tricity pricing—all of which significantly influence investment viability. To address these gaps, this study introduces a novel method based on a new model to calculate the unit cost of electricity consumption from the user’s perspective (CEC, in €/kWh). The array DC power rating is then optimally sized—assuming ideal orientation and tilt—to minimize CEC. A self-consumption PV system is considered cost-competitive when the annualized minimized CEC is lower than the applicable regulated electricity tariff. Colombia is selected as a case study to demonstrate the novel method due to the limited deployment and analy-sis of self-consumption PV systems in the country. The method is applied across residen-tial, commercial, and industrial sectors in various locations. The resulting annualized minimized CEC values (0.35–8.85 c€/kWh) are consistently below the corresponding regu-lated tariffs, demonstrating the economic viability of properly sized PV systems. The method’s adaptability to international tariff frameworks makes it a valuable tool for global application and a useful resource for policymakers and stakeholders. |
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