Economic Evaluation of the Portuguese PV and Energy Storage Residential Applications

TL;DR

This study evaluates the economic viability of photovoltaic systems with and without energy storage in Portugal's residential sector, considering different locations, tariffs, and regulations, highlighting when battery integration is profitable.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive economic analysis of PV and battery configurations in Portugal, considering technical, energetic, and regulatory factors, which was previously unclear.

Findings

PV systems are generally economical without storage.

Battery storage is profitable in specific configurations.

Good energy management enhances system profitability.

Abstract

In the residential sector, energy micro-generation and its intelligent management have been creating novel energy market models, considering new concepts of energy use and distribution, in which the prosumer has an active role in the energy generation and its self-consumption. The configuration of the solar photovoltaic system with a battery energy storage in Portugal is unclear in the technical, energetic and mostly in the economical point of view. The energy generation and consumption management, jointly with the battery operation, have a great influence in the profitability value of the configuration. The present work evaluates different photovoltaic configurations with and without energy storage for the normal low voltage C consumer profile, for a contracted power of 3.45 kVA, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the systems, framed in the regulation in force in Portugal, the decree-law 153/2014, which promotes the micro-generation and self-consumption. The analysis consists of three different geographical locations in the country, considering distinct electric tariffs. These are relevant parameters in the choice of the configuration, concluding that although the solar photovoltaic system by itself is already economical presently, its integration with battery energy storage is not in most of the configurations, however it is already possible to find profitable PV and battery configurations, considering all the most relevant criteria, and supported by good energy management.