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Economics of Photovoltaic Systems
Original Presentation by J. M. Pearce, 2006Updated in 2010 by J.M. Pearce and M. PathakEmail: profpearce@gmail.com
PV Economics Basics
•Solar Photovoltaic Cells convert sunlightdirectly into electricity• They are sold on a $/Wp basis or $/power•Wp is the power in Watts for
Peak sunhours
-- the equivalent number of hours perday, with solar irradiance equaling 1,000W/m
2
, that gives the same energy receivedfrom sunrise to sundown.•To convert power to energy simply multiplyby the amount of time that the cell isilluminated
–W * hr = 1 W-hr
•Electricity (energy) is normally billed $/kW-hr
PV Economics Terms
•kW = kilowatt = 1 000 Watts•MW = Megawatt = 1 000 000 Watts•kW-h/kW/ *
–* year or month or day–Amount of power predicted to be producedfrom a 1 kW solar panel in the desiredlocation
•Payback = minimum time it takes torecover investment costs.
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