IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v276y2020ics0306261920306619.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Techno-economic assessment and deployment strategies for vertically-mounted photovoltaic panels

Author

Listed:
  • Zimmerman, Ryan
  • Panda, Anurag
  • Bulović, Vladimir

Abstract

This study identifies potential future markets and deployment challenges for vertically mounted photovoltaic (PV) panels in the United States (U.S.). Target photovoltaic (PV) module metrics are determined for economically competitive installations comparable to the grid-supplied commercial electricity price in the contiguous U.S. The study is motivated by the emergence of third-generation PV materials that promise low cost modules with weight per unit area that are an order of magnitude lower than silicon panels, thereby enabling vertical installation of PV modules on existing structures with minimal mechanical reinforcement. Vertically-mounted PVs on building façades are the largest potential market, between 50 GWp and 550 GWp, with other smaller markets adding an additional 15 GWp of capacity. Conservatively, assuming that the third-generation lightweight and monofacial PV modules have 15% efficiency, cost $0.68/Wp and a 10-year lifetime, when mounted vertically facing south, their levelized cost of generated electricity is between 18.3 and 23.1 ¢/kWh, dependent on the region of the U.S. East or west facing monofacial modules result in a higher levelized cost between 24.1 and 28.4 ¢/kWh. Bifacial PV modules facing east–west achieve a grid-comparable cost between 11.8 and 14.2 ¢/kWh. With further improvement of the monofacial PV module performance to 19% efficiency, 10-year lifetime, and $0.20/Wp when vertically mounted facing south, the levelized cost of their generated electricity would be between 10.1 and 12.7 ¢/kWh, comparable to the average 2018 grid price in the U. S.

Suggested Citation

  • Zimmerman, Ryan & Panda, Anurag & Bulović, Vladimir, 2020. "Techno-economic assessment and deployment strategies for vertically-mounted photovoltaic panels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:276:y:2020:i:c:s0306261920306619
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261920306619
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115149?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Branker, K. & Pathak, M.J.M. & Pearce, J.M., 2011. "A review of solar photovoltaic levelized cost of electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4470-4482.
    2. Christopher J. Traverse & Richa Pandey & Miles C. Barr & Richard R. Lunt, 2017. "Emergence of highly transparent photovoltaics for distributed applications," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(11), pages 849-860, November.
    3. Draxl, Caroline & Clifton, Andrew & Hodge, Bri-Mathias & McCaa, Jim, 2015. "The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 355-366.
    4. Kanellis, Michalis & de Jong, Minne M. & Slooff, Lenneke & Debije, Michael G., 2017. "The solar noise barrier project: 1. Effect of incident light orientation on the performance of a large-scale luminescent solar concentrator noise barrier," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 647-652.
    5. Matthew O. Reese & Stephen Glynn & Michael D. Kempe & Deborah L. McGott & Matthew S. Dabney & Teresa M. Barnes & Samuel Booth & David Feldman & Nancy M. Haegel, 2018. "Increasing markets and decreasing package weight for high-specific-power photovoltaics," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 1002-1012, November.
    6. Sun, Xingshu & Khan, Mohammad Ryyan & Deline, Chris & Alam, Muhammad Ashraful, 2018. "Optimization and performance of bifacial solar modules: A global perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1601-1610.
    7. Curtius, Hans Christoph, 2018. "The adoption of building-integrated photovoltaics: barriers and facilitators," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 783-790.
    8. Freitas, S. & Brito, M.C., 2019. "Non-cumulative only solar photovoltaics for electricity load-matching," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 271-283.
    9. Stephen R. Forrest, 2004. "The path to ubiquitous and low-cost organic electronic appliances on plastic," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6986), pages 911-918, April.
    10. Sengupta, Manajit & Xie, Yu & Lopez, Anthony & Habte, Aron & Maclaurin, Galen & Shelby, James, 2018. "The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 51-60.
    11. Mousazadeh, Hossein & Keyhani, Alireza & Javadi, Arzhang & Mobli, Hossein & Abrinia, Karen & Sharifi, Ahmad, 2009. "A review of principle and sun-tracking methods for maximizing solar systems output," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 1800-1818, October.
    12. Hafez, A.Z. & Soliman, A. & El-Metwally, K.A. & Ismail, I.M., 2017. "Tilt and azimuth angles in solar energy applications – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-168.
    13. Guo, Siyu & Walsh, Timothy Michael & Peters, Marius, 2013. "Vertically mounted bifacial photovoltaic modules: A global analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 447-454.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mengjin Hu & Xiaoyang Song & Zhongxu Bao & Zhao Liu & Mengju Wei & Yaohuan Huang, 2022. "Evaluation of the Economic Potential of Photovoltaic Power Generation in Road Spaces," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Yuanlong Cui & Shuangqing Tian & Jie Zhu & Stamatis Zoras & Yiming Shao, 2023. "Energy and Stochastic Economic Assessments of Photovoltaic Systems in the East Midlands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-35, September.
    3. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Qiong Wu & Xiaofeng Zhang & Qi Wang, 2024. "Integrating Renewable Energy in Transportation: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Prospects on Photovoltaic Noise Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Gassar, Abdo Abdullah Ahmed & Cha, Seung Hyun, 2021. "Review of geographic information systems-based rooftop solar photovoltaic potential estimation approaches at urban scales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Shitao Wang & Yi Shen & Junbing Zhou & Caixia Li & Lijun Ma, 2022. "Efficiency Enhancement of Tilted Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules with Horizontal Single-Axis Tracker—The Bifacial Companion Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Patel, M. Tahir & Khan, M. Ryyan & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "A worldwide cost-based design and optimization of tilted bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 467-479.
    4. Arias-Rosales, Andrés & LeDuc, Philip R., 2023. "Urban solar harvesting: The importance of diffuse shadows in complex environments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Craig, Michael & Guerra, Omar J. & Brancucci, Carlo & Pambour, Kwabena Addo & Hodge, Bri-Mathias, 2020. "Valuing intra-day coordination of electric power and natural gas system operations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Rawat, Rahul & Kaushik, S.C. & Lamba, Ravita, 2016. "A review on modeling, design methodology and size optimization of photovoltaic based water pumping, standalone and grid connected system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1506-1519.
    7. Johnson, Joji & Manikandan, S., 2023. "Experimental study and model development of bifacial photovoltaic power plants for Indian climatic zones," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    8. Tao, Yunkun & Bai, Jianbo & Pachauri, Rupendra Kumar & Wang, Yue & Li, Jian & Attaher, Harouna Kerzika, 2021. "Parameterizing mismatch loss in bifacial photovoltaic modules with global deployment: A comprehensive study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    9. Harrison-Atlas, Dylan & Murphy, Caitlin & Schleifer, Anna & Grue, Nicholas, 2022. "Temporal complementarity and value of wind-PV hybrid systems across the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 111-123.
    10. Svitnič, Tibor & Sundmacher, Kai, 2022. "Renewable methanol production: Optimization-based design, scheduling and waste-heat utilization with the FluxMax approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    11. Taylan G. Topcu & Konstantinos Triantis, 2022. "An ex-ante DEA method for representing contextual uncertainties and stakeholder risk preferences," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 309(1), pages 395-423, February.
    12. Needell, David R. & Phelan, Megan E. & Hartlove, Jason T. & Atwater, Harry A., 2021. "Solar power windows: Connecting scientific advances to market signals," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    13. Renzi, M. & Egidi, L. & Comodi, G., 2015. "Performance analysis of two 3.5kWp CPV systems under real operating conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 687-696.
    14. Barbón, A. & Bayón-Cueli, C. & Bayón, L. & Rodríguez-Suanzes, C., 2022. "Analysis of the tilt and azimuth angles of photovoltaic systems in non-ideal positions for urban applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    15. Ogunmodede, Oluwaseun & Anderson, Kate & Cutler, Dylan & Newman, Alexandra, 2021. "Optimizing design and dispatch of a renewable energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    16. Li, Can & Conejo, Antonio J. & Liu, Peng & Omell, Benjamin P. & Siirola, John D. & Grossmann, Ignacio E., 2022. "Mixed-integer linear programming models and algorithms for generation and transmission expansion planning of power systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(3), pages 1071-1082.
    17. Kim, James Hyungkwan & Mills, Andrew D. & Wiser, Ryan & Bolinger, Mark & Gorman, Will & Crespo Montañes, Cristina & O'Shaughnessy, Eric, 2021. "Project developer options to enhance the value of solar electricity as solar and storage penetrations increase," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    18. Juhee Jang & Kyungsoo Lee, 2020. "Practical Performance Analysis of a Bifacial PV Module and System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-13, August.
    19. Bhattacharya, Saptarshi & Pennock, Shona & Robertson, Bryson & Hanif, Sarmad & Alam, Md Jan E. & Bhatnagar, Dhruv & Preziuso, Danielle & O’Neil, Rebecca, 2021. "Timing value of marine renewable energy resources for potential grid applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    20. Roggenburg, Michael & Warsinger, David M. & Bocanegra Evans, Humberto & Castillo, Luciano, 2021. "Combatting water scarcity and economic distress along the US-Mexico border using renewable powered desalination," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:276:y:2020:i:c:s0306261920306619. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.