PV discussion on LE3D Forum

During last week’s social session on the Leonardo ENERGY 3D Forum, participants had the chance to attend to a presentation on Photovoltaics. This is one of the hot topics of the moment, as proved by the discussion that followed.

Recent developments show that the situation is changing. Thin-film technology is getting more attention and confidence from the market due to its lower price compared to other technologies. This technology still requires more area to be installed, but it costs half the price per kWh. Future developments are very likely to increase the efficiency of the panels and make thin-film even more attractive. Furthermore, it can be used in climates with more diffuse radiation.

The hosting capacity of current electricity grids seems not to be a problem for the moment, and does not compromise reliability as there is still low penetration of Photovoltaics. However, this situation may change should a government adopt strong measures to promote distributed generation. In this event, new installations may be compromised if incentives to reinforce the grid are not considered.

The developments of electricity storage were also discussed, as these may have a preponderant role on the development of new PV installations. Grid-connected installations are not greatly affected, so this issue is not so significant in the European market, due to the relatively high electrification density.

Peculiarly, there are higher incentives for off-grid installations compared to grid-connected, making a PV installation more economic than bringing a LV line in some cases, so here, storage technologies are definitely important. Even though storage technologies still have considerable limitations, they have undergone advances in the last couple of years, and maybe in the coming years we will achieve a breakthrough, bringing it up to full speed.