An economic approach to photovoltaic microgeneration

Abstract

This chapter addresses the socioeconomic dimension of residential micro-generation, illustrating it with an empirical focus on Spain. This is a possibility which was created by the enormous reduction in the prices of photovoltaic equipment which started in 2008. The chapter provides a general classification of PV plant, identifies the six factors that influence the design and management of a residential plant (illustrated with a real case) and defines and discusses the three criteria used for the economic evaluation of micro-generation, namely, the rate of return, the avoided cost and the influence of some heuristics (such as social imitation and sufficient satisfaction) that trigger it.