Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.

2 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Applied Science University, Jordan.

Abstract

Life cycle costing (LCC) is a methodology used first time by the Department of Defense of United State, it’s an economic calculation of all costs propagated during the life span of any technical system. For Renewable Energy (RE) systems, LCC is a good methodology, which shows the cost-effectiveness of using RE as an alternative source compared to conventional power generations. A LCC model was introduced for PV generation system. Data collection was done through four different cost data sources. The results shows that the average module price is $0.56/Wp and the capital investment cost is $1.184/Wp. For a 20 years PV project life-time, the operation and maintenance cost forms 27% of the total LCC of the system.

Keywords

Main Subjects

[1]  Barringer, H. P., Weber, D. P., & Westside, M. H. (1995). Life-cycle cost tutorials. Fourth international conference on process plant reliability, Gulf Publishing Company.
[2] Fuller, S., & Petersen, S. (1996). Life-cycle costing manual for the federal energy management program, NIST Handbook 135. Handbook (NIST HB), 135.
[3]  Sayigh, A. A. M. (Ed.). (2012). Solar energy engineering. Elsevier.
[4] Whiteman, A., Rinke, T., Esparrago, J., & Elsayed, S. (2016). Renewable capacity statistics 2016. IRENA3, 29.
[5]  Agency, I. E. (2015). Renewable energy medium-term market report 2015. Retrieved from https://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/MTrenew2015sum.pdf
[6]  Fraunhofer institute for solar energy systems. (2016). Retrieved from:
 https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en.html
[7]  Hastings, S. & Dronkers, B. (2016). Fact sheet : The true price of wind and solar electricity generation. Pembin institude. Retrieved from http://www.pembina.org/
[8]  Mehta, S. (2013). PV Technology and Cost Outlook, 2013-2017. Retrieved from:
 https://www.greentechmedia.com/.../pv-technology-and-cost-outlook-2013-2017
[9] Feldman, D. et al. (2015). Photovoltaic system pricing trends - historical, recent, and near-term projections projections. Retrieved from https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/62558.pdf
[10]  Kimura, K. & Zissler, R. (2016). Comparing prices and costs of solar PV in Japan and Germany- The reasons why solar PV is more expensive in Japan. Renewable energy institute. Retrieved from https://www.renewable-ei.org/.../JREF_Japan_Germany_solarpower_costcomparison_...
[11]  Rehman, S., Bader, M. A. & Al-Moallem, S. A. (2007). Cost of solar energy generated using PV panels. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews,  11, 1843–1857.
[12]  Campbell, M., Aschenbrenner, P., Blunden, J., Smeloff, E., & Wright, S. (2008). The drivers of the levelized cost of electricity for utility-scale photovoltaics. White paper: SunPower corporation.
[13]   Yang, C. J. (2010). Reconsidering solar grid parity. Energy policy38(7), 3270-3273.
[14] Chung, D., Davidson, C., Fu, R., Ardani, K., & Margolis, R. (2015). US photovoltaic prices and cost breakdowns. Q1 2015 benchmarks for residential, commercial, and utility-scale systems. National Renewable Energy Lab.(NREL).
[15] Shah, V., & Booream-Phelps, J. (2015). FITT for investors: Crossing the chasm. Deutsche bank markets research. Retrieved from:
 www. db. com/newsroom_news/markets_research_solar_industry. pdf
[16] Parida, B., Iniyan, S., & Goic, R. (2011). A review of solar photovoltaic technologies. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews15(3), 1625-1636.
[17] Mulligan, C. J., Bilen, C., Zhou, X., Belcher, W. J., & Dastoor, P. C. (2015). Levelised cost of electricity for organic photovoltaics. Solar energy materials and solar cells133, 26-31.
[18] El-Shimy, M. (2012, December). Analysis of levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and grid parity for utility-scale photovoltaic generation systems. Proceeding of 15th International Middle East Power Systems Conference (MEPCON’12) (pp. 1-7). DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10311.29603 
[19]   Stavy, M. (2002). Computing the levelized cost (B R¢/kWh [US ¢/kWh]) of solar electricity generated at grid connected Photovoltaic (PV) generating plants. Proceeding of World Climate & Energy Event. (pp. 6-11). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
[20] Ragnarsson, B. F., Oddsson, G. V., Unnthorsson, R., & Hrafnkelsson, B. (2015). Levelized cost of energy analysis of a wind power generation system at burfell in iceland. Energies8(9), 9464-9485.
[21] Myhr, A., Bjerkseter, C., Ågotnes, A., & Nygaard, T. A. (2014). Levelised cost of energy for offshore floating wind turbines in a life cycle perspective. Renewable energy66, 714-728.
[22] Kost, C., Mayer, J. N., Thomsen, J., Hartmann, N., Senkpiel, C., Philipps, S., ... & Schlegl, T. (2013). Levelized cost of electricity renewable energy technologies. Fraunhofer institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.
[23] Desideri, U., & Campana, P. E. (2014). Analysis and comparison between a concentrating solar and a photovoltaic power plant. Applied energy113, 422-433.
[24] Gielen, D. (2012). Renewable energy technologies: cost analysis series. Sol photovolt1(1), 52.
[25] Renewable energy technologies: Cost analysis series. (2012). International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Retrieved from:
https://www.irena.org/.../RE_Technologies_Cost_Analysis-SOLAR_PV.pdf
[26] Hearps, P., & McConnell, D. (2011). Renewable energy technology cost review. Melbourne energy institute technical paper series.
[27] Dale, M. (2013). A comparative analysis of energy costs of photovoltaic, solar thermal, and wind electricity generation technologies. Applied sciences3(2), 325-337.
[28] Branker, K., Pathak, M. J. M., & Pearce, J. M. (2011). A review of solar photovoltaic levelized cost of electricity. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews15(9), 4470-4482.
[29] Darling, S. B., You, F., Veselka, T., & Velosa, A. (2011). Assumptions and the levelized cost of energy for photovoltaics. Energy & environmental science4(9), 3133-3139.