Extracting issues significant to valuing electricity from small photovoltaic systems using quantitative content analysis

Abstract

The feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme for small photovoltaic (PV) systems is fast approaching its closure or expiration in many countries. One of the issues after the closure of the FIT will be to determine the selling price of the surplus PV generation, for which valuing the surplus PV generation is essential. This study extracted issues significant to valuing electricity from PV systems by using quantitative content analysis in four states in Australia, where the local economic regulator conventionally estimates the value. Through quantitative content analysis, the region-specific issues relevant to each state were extracted. For example, forecast of wholesale price is the most significant issue in Victoria, where the methodology was not clear and the avoided wholesale cost tends to be overestimated. Similarly, in New South Wales and Queensland, merit order effect was the most significant issue among the stakeholders, where PV installation was higher than that in the other states. Thus, the proposed analysis method can be used to extract the issues relevant to valuing the electricity from PV generation.