Shared PV Systems in Multi-Scaled Communities

In past years, Sweden has been facing a rapid growth of photovoltaic cells, and the total PV installation capacity increased from 300 kW to 1090 MW (2006-2020). The increased number of PV users was a result of active support from the Swedish government with an aim of achieving multiple sustainable goals regarding renewable energy. This project evaluates the profitability of shared PV systems in communities of different sizes in Sweden. This study aimed to contribute to the literature by filling the research gap of presenting the financial benefits at different community scales. The electricity use profiles consisted of hourly measured electricity use that was derived from 1067 individual Swedish apartments. The profiles were then used to create multi-scaled communities with shared PV systems. The mid-market price model was implemented to simulate electricity trading among prosumers in the community using Visual Basic Applications (VBA) in MS Excel. Further, the electricity costs were used for Life Cycle Cost (LCC) assessment. To demonstrate the increase in profitability, the LCC results of households with shared PV systems were compared to households that own PV individually and households that do not own a PV system. The evaluation showed the financial benefits of shared PV systems in comparison with individually owned PV systems. This study also demonstrated the increase in profitability and the reduction in payback time for the average household if sharing a PV system as part of a larger community.