Analysis of the Impact of the Assumed Moment of Meeting Total Energy Demand on the Profitability of Photovoltaic Installations for Households in Poland

Abstract

In this article, the authors analyzed two extreme investment variants considering the installed capacity of Poland’s residential pv installation: (a) pv installation meets electricity demand only in the first year of operation, and in each subsequent year it is necessary to purchase electricity at market prices; (b) installation meets electricity demand even in the last year of operation, and in each previous year, the excess of generated electricity needs to be transferred back to the grid, with the limited (by law) right of drawing it from the grid for free in the future. In the article, a sensitivity analysis was performed, and profitability changes were established based on the NPV value, depending on case (a) or (b). The performed analyses showed that the pv installation profitability should not be analyzed, assuming only one moment when it meets 100% of the household’s electricity demand. It was shown that the choice of such a moment, depending on the value of particular technical and financial parameters, can lead to a change in the NPV value, even over 10%. Although the studies were done for Poland, such an approach can be implemented in other countries.