Economic Assessment of the Peer-to-Peer Trading Policy of Distributed PV Electricity: A Case Study in China

Abstract

China’s government launched a policy in October 2017 to permit the distributed generators to peer-to-peer trade their electricity generation on the market. Several clauses in the policy document are, however, unclear and ambiguous. This work identifies three vital but not clearly detailed issues in the policy document: (1) participation eligibility, (2) the grid fee calculation method, and (3) subsidy rates. Then, we carry out a comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts of the trade policy based on a case study of an eastern city in China. Sensitivity analyses on the impacts of the subsidy rates, transmission and distribution prices (TDPs), and end-user regulated prices are conducted. The results show that the trading policy will benefit the photovoltaic (PV) generators with more revenue by 6–11%, reduce the cost for end-users by 6–12%, and decrease the revenue of the power grid company by 32–55%.