An integrated financial and environmental evaluation framework to optimize residential photovoltaic solar systems in Australia from recession uncertainties

Quddus Tushar; Guomin Zhang; Filippo Giustozzi; Muhammed A Bhuiyan; Lei Hou; Satheeskumar Navaratnam

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119002

An integrated financial and environmental evaluation framework to optimize residential photovoltaic solar systems in Australia from recession uncertainties

J Environ Manage. 2023 Nov 15:346:119002. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119002. Epub 2023 Sep 19.

Authors

Quddus Tushar¹, Guomin Zhang², Filippo Giustozzi¹, Muhammed A Bhuiyan¹, Lei Hou¹, Satheeskumar Navaratnam¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia.
² School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia. Electronic address: kevin.zhang@rmit.edu.au.

PMID: 37734211
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119002

Abstract

This study assesses the financial viability and environmental evaluation of Photovoltaic (PV) panels from the perspective of the recent economic recession due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The financial viability of PV installation is calculated based on the estimated price, solar rebates, feed-in tariff, energy supply cost, and other evaluation parameters available at the assessment time. This calculation implicitly assumes variable discount rates (4%, 7%, and 12%) to show how the future will unfold and its correlations with design parameters. Details of economic appraisal integrating current inflation, rebates, and incentives of solar systems have been analyzed for the first time in this study. Financial indicators reveal the advantages of installing a grid-connected solar system (SS) over a solar battery storage system (SSWB). Compared to other installation systems, the lowest payback (PB) and highest internal rate of return (IRR) are observed for a 7 kW grid-connected solar system. Relative uncertainties of solar installation systems represent the necessity of government subsidies (r = -0.602) for solar storage batteries. LCA signifies the energy-intensive process of manufacturing metallurgical-grade (MG) silicon is the primary cause of significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative energy demand (CED) for PV panels. A potential amount of metal and fossil fuels is depleted for interconnective components of solar installation systems. Amorphous solar panels exhibit lower impacts than polycrystalline, but further upgradation in service life is required to become cost-effective and cope with current inflation.

Keywords: Environmental impacts; Financial assessment; Grid-connected; Hybrid system; Metallurgical-grade (MG); Polycrystalline.