Electric Self-production for LV Subscribers: Is It Better to Have Decentralized or Centralized PV Production?
Abstract
The Tunisian energy supply system is currently, being restructured to achieve 30% produced electricity from sustainable sources by the year 2030. The objective is to reach 3815 MW of renewable electrical power, with 1755 MW for wind power, 1510 MW for solar PV, 450 MW for CSP and 100 MW for biomass. Photovoltaic solar energy offers great national economic advantages. Grid-connected photovoltaic systems can be as decentralized or centralized production technology. Between decentralized and centralized PV production, the choice is a little difficult. In fact, with decentralized technology, the costs of transporting electricity and losses in transport circuits are eliminated. While for centralized production, the cost of installation is much lower due to the economy of scale. This study is solved using OSeMOSYS tool, which needs certain economic and technical data for each energy technology. Simulation results prove that centralized PV technology is more productive than decentralized one during certain years. Then, decentralized production begins to be more interesting where their cost would be equivalent to that of centralized PV. However, centralized PV technology can be more productive if there is an improvement in the quality of the transmission network.