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Title: The Economic Value of PV and Net Metering to Residential Customers in California

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the bill savings from PV for residential customers of the California's two largest electric utilities, under existing net metering tariffs as well as under several alternative compensation mechanisms. We find that economic value of PV to the customer is dependent on the structure of the underlying retail electricity rate and can vary quite significantly from one customer to another. In addition, we find that the value of the bill savings from PV generally declines with PV penetration level, as increased PV generation tends to offset lower-priced usage. Customers in our sample from both utilities are significantly better off with net metering than with a feed-in tariff where all PV generation is compensated at long-run avoided generation supply costs. Other compensation schemeswhich allow customers to displace their consumption with PV generation within each hour or each month, and are also based on the avoided costs, yield similar value to the customer as net metering.

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Environmental Energy Technologies Division
OSTI Identifier:
983789
Report Number(s):
LBNL-3539E
TRN: US201015%%1327
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: American Solar Energy Society (ASES) National Solar Conference, Phoenix, AZ, May 17-22, 2010
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
29; AVAILABILITY; CALIFORNIA; ECONOMICS; ELECTRIC UTILITIES; ELECTRICITY; MEETINGS; METERING; SOLAR ENERGY; TARIFFS; WELLS; YIELDS

Citation Formats

Darghouth, Naim, Barbose, Galen, and Wiser, Ryan. The Economic Value of PV and Net Metering to Residential Customers in California. United States: N. p., 2010. Web.
Darghouth, Naim, Barbose, Galen, & Wiser, Ryan. The Economic Value of PV and Net Metering to Residential Customers in California. United States.
Darghouth, Naim, Barbose, Galen, and Wiser, Ryan. 2010. "The Economic Value of PV and Net Metering to Residential Customers in California". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/983789.
@article{osti_983789,
title = {The Economic Value of PV and Net Metering to Residential Customers in California},
author = {Darghouth, Naim and Barbose, Galen and Wiser, Ryan},
abstractNote = {In this paper, we analyze the bill savings from PV for residential customers of the California's two largest electric utilities, under existing net metering tariffs as well as under several alternative compensation mechanisms. We find that economic value of PV to the customer is dependent on the structure of the underlying retail electricity rate and can vary quite significantly from one customer to another. In addition, we find that the value of the bill savings from PV generally declines with PV penetration level, as increased PV generation tends to offset lower-priced usage. Customers in our sample from both utilities are significantly better off with net metering than with a feed-in tariff where all PV generation is compensated at long-run avoided generation supply costs. Other compensation schemeswhich allow customers to displace their consumption with PV generation within each hour or each month, and are also based on the avoided costs, yield similar value to the customer as net metering.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/983789}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2010},
month = {Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2010}
}

Conference:
Other availability
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