Photovoltaic potential prediction and techno-economic analysis of China railway stations

Abstract

As an infrastructure, the railway stations' roof and platform canopy have considerable space potential for deploying photovoltaic power generation systems. In order to study the feasibility of installing PV systems in railway stations, this paper analyzes the PV potential and techno-economic characteristics of China's high-grade railroad stations by combining a three-dimensional digital earth system (LSV) and PV plant calculation methods. The results show that the total installed PV capacity of Chinese high-grade railway stations, which are mainly used for passenger transportation, can reach 820 MW, and the total annual PV power generation capacity can reach 1111GWh. The self-sufficiency rate of each station is affected by the scale of the station building, the number of canopies on the passenger platform and the architectural design factors. The smaller the scale of the station building, the larger the area of the platform canopy, the smaller the overlap between the station building and the station canopy, the easier the railway station to achieve self-sustaining. The payback period is the time it takes for the total return on PV power generation to equal the investment in PV construction. 63% of the stations can realize full payback of their investment within 4–7 years under the operation strategy of full self-consumption of power generation. In addition the photovoltaic systems in railroad stations can generate considerable ecological benefits, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 820,000 tons per year, which is about the carbon emissions of 304,000 cars in one year.