FINANCING OF RESIDENTIAL ROOFTOP PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECTS UNDER A NET METERING POLICY FRAMEWORK: THE CASE OF THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN REGION

Adalberto Ospino-Castro,Juan Tobón-Perez,Melisa Acosta-Coll,Rafael Peña-Gallardo,Carlos Robles-Algarín

doi:10.32479/ijeep.9560

Abstract

The inclusion of photovoltaic energy in the Colombian energy matrix has had several difficulties due to the lack of energy policies and regulations in renewable energy projects. The lack of government support with subsidies that extend the coverage of PV energy projects in residential areas has made the collection of funds more challenging. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis for the implementation of grid-connected photovoltaic projects on the roofs of residential areas, under the net metering policy framework. For the profitability analysis, the discounted cash flow (DCF) method was used. The revenues were obtained from the forecasts of the electrical power production of the PV system, based on the characteristics of the Colombian Caribbean Region. For this purpose, the meteorological data (2013-2017) of this region were used as an input for the calculation of the economic benefits that can be achieved with the implementation of PV systems. Based on the technical sizing and economic assumptions, it was proved that the DCF method allows to accurately determine the optimal debt ratio. After evaluating the three scenarios proposed, it was demonstrated that profitability and self-sustainability, with investment from creditors, is obtained from the implementation of PV systems of at least 3 kWp.

Highlights

IntroductionAccording to the Global Status Report (REN 21, 2017), the main regulatory frameworks to promote photovoltaic technologies in many countries, focus on Feed-in Tariff and net metering
On a global level, the insertion of renewable energy sources in the energy matrix, as an alternative for the generation of electricity, brings benefits for the socioeconomic development of a country (Paez et al, 2017), promoting new energy markets, such as the self-generation and sale of surplus energy to the grid, which help mitigate the environmental impact caused by fossil fuel generation (Robles et al, 2018; Burke and Stephens, 2018).According to the Global Status Report (REN 21, 2017), the main regulatory frameworks to promote photovoltaic technologies in many countries, focus on Feed-in Tariff and net metering
Solar Energy Potential of the Colombian Caribbean Region The Caribbean Region is one of the five regions of the Colombian territory. It produces 15% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and concentrates 21.8% of the population (10.7 million inhabitants according to DANE projections in June 2017-DANE, 2017), of which 73.9% are located in the areas urban and 26.1% in the rural area

Summary

Introduction

According to the Global Status Report (REN 21, 2017), the main regulatory frameworks to promote photovoltaic technologies in many countries, focus on Feed-in Tariff and net metering. The latter, as a support for photovoltaic generation, is currently applied in Europe (Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands), USA (Adopted in 41 states), South America and other countries in the world. According to the authors, Yamaya et al (2014) and Sajjad et al (2018), the Feed-in Tariff policy is the most widely used worldwide, the policy with greater application as a regulatory mechanism to promote renewable energy power generation, is the net metering. In Schelly et al (2017), federal and state policies in the United States were analyzed, oriented to the implementation of

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Conclusion