On the cost of photovoltaic electricity for small residential plants in the European Union

Abstract

The strong decrease in the cost of photovoltaic panels has made competitive this renewable source of energy with respect to conventional sources. As a result grid parity seems now within reach in many member states of the European Union. This paper tries to make an assessment of the actual cost of photovoltaic electricity in each country of the Union using the Levelized Cost of photovoltaic energy asthe benchmark to compare with the actual price of electric energy. It is found that nowadays grid parity is effectively an issue in several different countries of the Union and that suitable supporting schemes, apart from theFeed-In-Tariff, could be used to further support the diffusion of this type of energy.

Keywords

• renewable energy; solar energy; Grid parity; LCOE, Feed in Tariff;