Economic Assessment of Residential Hybrid Photovoltaic-Battery Energy Storage System in Iran

Due to a 15% electricity shortage in Iran, the scheduled shutdown occurs frequently in summer noon in 2021. These power cuts lead to serious social and economic effects on both private and government sectors. As a solution, Mashhad Electric Energy Distribution Company extended the current FiT(1) framework in a way that any individual can upgrade its existing GCPVS(2) to the hybrid one through exploiting BESS3 and substituting the grid-tie inverter with a hybrid one. When the grid is present, the investor sells the whole generated energy at a guaranteed price. Further, he/she benefits continuous supply of energy for domestic loads during the grid power cut. This paper presents the economic evaluation of the residential hybrid PV-BESS under FiT policy in Mashhad as a case study. The BESS is initially designed for a traditional residential demand taking the frequency and duration of the power cuts into account. Afterwards, the hybrid system is assessed under the current FiT policy from the economic perspective. The presented analyzes endorse that although the initial cost of the hybrid system raises with respect to the grid-connected type, this project with 463,425,280 Iranian Rials NPV4, 12.68 PBT5, and 28.3% IRR6 is economically viable under the current FiT policy.