تجزیه و تحلیل هزینه فایده پارامتری برای نصب و راه اندازی پارک های فتوولتائیک در جزیره قبرس

In this work a feasibility study is carried out in order to investigate whether the installation of large photovoltaic (PV) parks in Cyprus, in the absence of relevant feed-in tariff or other measures, is economically feasible. The study takes into account the available solar potential of the island of Cyprus as well as all available data concerning current renewable energy sources (RES) policy of the Cyprus Government and the current RES electricity purchasing tariff from Electricity Authority of Cyprus. In order to identify the least-cost feasible option for the installation of 1 MW PV park a parametric cost–benefit analysis is carried out by varying parameters such as PV park orientation, PV park capital investment, carbon dioxide emission trading system price, etc. For all above cases the electricity unit cost or benefit before tax, as well as after-tax cash flow, net present value, internal rate of return and payback period are calculated. The results indicate that capital expenditure of the PV park is a critical parameter for the viability of the project when no feed-in tariff is available.

In recent years the PV industry has been experiencing a dramatic growth at a global level. Continuous increase of conventional fuel costs as well as growing pressure to turn towards renewable energy sources (RES) are the main drivers behind this rapidly expanding industry which since the start of the decade has achieved continuous annual growth of around 30%, (Šály et al., 2006). At a global energy output level, the PV industry is still lagging behind other RES technologies, such as, hydropower and wind energy (http://www.eupvplatform.org). This is due to the high costs associated with the manufacturing of PV solar modules, costs that will however steadily diminish as a result of continuous advancements in technology (Compaan, 2006). In Cyprus, the PV industry is following global trends with more and more companies emerging that specialize in the field. The plentiful sunshine, the favorable legislation for small-scale applications up to 20 kW and the increasing awareness, coupled with the global expansion of the industry and the continuous technological breakthroughs are driving the Cyprus PV industry's growth. However, still there exists relatively low interest in PV installations due to the lengthy and time-consuming subsidy approval procedures. A detailed comparison of the PV promoting schemes in various European and Mediterranean countries is provided in Giakoumelos et al. (2008). Cyprus RES policy related to PVs is characterized as conservative, compared to that currently in place by Spain and Greece in which large-scale PV installations are eligible for funding. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether the installation of large PV parks in Cyprus, in the absence of appropriate feed-in tariff or other measures is economically feasible. The study takes into account the available solar potential of the island of Cyprus as well as all available data concerning current RES policy of the Cyprus Government and the current RES-E purchasing tariff from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC). In order to identify the least-cost feasible option for the installation of 1 MW PV park a parametric cost–benefit analysis is carried out by varying the following parameters: (a) PV park orientation south at 28° fixed angle or two-axis tracking system, (b) PV park capital investment from 1000 to 8000 €/kW, (c) discount rate from 2% to 10%, (d) CO2 emissions trading scheme (ETS) price 0 or 30 €/tCO2, and (e) EAC monthly fuel price from 100 to 500 €/t. For all above cases the electricity unit cost or benefit before tax (in €/kWh), as well as after-tax cash flow, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period are calculated. In Section 2, the Cyprus current energy system is described and in Section 3, the Cyprus RES policy is discussed. In Section 4, the parametric cost–benefit analysis is carried out and the results are discussed in detail. The conclusions are summarized in Section 5.

Today PV technology is considered by many countries as an important technology for the future. Many of these countries have already established or are in the process of establishing support programs to encourage the adoption of this technology. However, solar PV has two big challenges that need to be resolved; that is, production costs need to go down before it becomes economically sustainable, while production capacity must continue to grow in order for PV to become a significant player in the global energy market. Large PV parks are not supported by the Cyprus Government RES Grant Schemes, thus, the main objective of this feasibility study was to investigate whether in the absence of appropriate feed-in tariff or other measures the installation of large PV parks in Cyprus is economically feasible. In order to identify the least-cost feasible option for the installation of the PV park a parametric cost–benefit analysis was carried out by varying the following parameters: (a) PV park orientation south at 28° fixed angle or two-axis tracking system, (b) PV park capital investment from 1000 to 8000 €/kW, (c) discount rate from 2% to 10%, (d) CO2 ETS price 0 or 30 €/tCO2 and (e) EAC monthly fuel price from 100 to 500 €/t. For all above cases the electricity unit cost or benefit before tax (in €/kWh), as well as after-tax cash flow, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period were calculated. The results indicated that capital expenditure of the PV park is a critical parameter for the viability of the project, in the case where no feed-in tariff is available.