How does location determine the economic competitiveness of grid-scale Emerging PV?

Nieto-Díaz, Balder A.; Crossland, Andrew F.; Groves, Christopher

Abstract

Emerging Photovoltaic (PV) devices with perovskite or organic absorber layers may play a substantial role in our energy future due to their potential low-cost manufacture and differing properties compared to established Silicon equivalents. However, it is not clear to what extent physical and human geography influences the cost competitiveness of emerging PV, and consequently, how emerging PV should be optimized for differing locations. Here we use a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) model to examine the influence of insolation and economic factors by predicting the price of energy from emerging PV in eight different countries. We demonstrate that capital costs play an important role in competitiveness, with low capital cost locations (e.g. India) benefitting more from low module costs and improved degradation, whereas high-cost locations (e.g. Japan) benefitted more from improved efficiency. These results demonstrate the importance of considering location as part of selecting which emerging PV is used, which is emphasized by predictions of LCOE for emerging PV devices reported in the literature over an 8-year period.

Citation

Nieto-Díaz, B. A., Crossland, A. F., & Groves, C. (2022). How does location determine the economic competitiveness of grid-scale Emerging PV?. Energy Technology, 10(5), Article 2101012. https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.202101012

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 25, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 16, 2022
• Publication Date: May 5, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 25, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 10, 2022
• Journal: Energy Technology
• Print ISSN: 2194-4288
• Electronic ISSN: 2194-4296
• Publisher: Wiley-VCH Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 2101012
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.202101012
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1213660