Decentralized Poly-generation of Energy: Basic Concepts - Design for Micro-Combined Cooling, Heating and Power Systems - page 44

higher share of variable and decentralized generation, in which customers will
progressively move to the center of the electricity system.
Competitiveness of the new technologies can be analyzed from three points of
view:

￿ “

s generation cost (the
Levelised Cost of Electricity, or LCOE) with wholesale electricity prices,
requires examining much more complex boundary conditions (such as market
design);
￿ “

Wholesale competitiveness ” , which compares PV '

Dynamic grid parity ” , when comparing PV ' s LCOE with PV revenues (earn-

ings and savings);
￿ “

generation value competitiveness ” , when comparing PV ' s generation cost to

that of other electricity sources.

A meaning of these terms is as follows:
“ Dynamic grid parity ” is de ned as the moment at which, in a particular market

segment in a speci c country, the present value of the long-term net earnings

(considering revenues, savings, cost, and depreciation) of the electricity supply
from a PV installation is equal to the long-term cost of receiving traditionally
produced and supplied power over the grid.
“ ”

ned as the moment at which, in a
specific country, adding PV to the generation portfolio becomes equally attractive
from an investor

Generation value competitiveness is de

s point of view to investing in a traditional and normally fossil fuel
based technology.
“

'

Wholesale competitiveness ” is de ned as the moment at which — in a particular

segment in a country — the present value of the long-term cost of installing,

financing, operating, and maintaining a PV system becomes lower than the price of
electricity on the wholesale market.
Competitiveness of the PV is analyzed in EPIA study [ 15 ] for the residential,
commercial, and industrial segments involving the local consumption of PV

electricity, when a user goes from being a consumer to a

—

“ prosumer ” as “ dynamic

grid parity s generation cost (the Levelised Cost of Elec-

tricity, or LCOE) with PV revenues (earnings and savings).
In the future, decentralized electrical generation units (DG units) of small size
will be connected to the low voltage grid with an increasing number and generation
capacity. With a rapidly increasing number of DG units, also the rated power
installed increases. In the future, the consumer (operator of DG unit) will decide at
which time and at which level electric power is fed into the grid.
Cogeneration (CHP) solutions can exhibit excellent overall energy ef

” , when comparing PV '

ciency and

allow for signi cant primary energy saving with respect to the separate production

of heat and electricity. As a consequence of the primary energy saving, CHP
systems can also be an effective means to pursue the objectives of the Kyoto

'

s

Protocol in terms of greenhouse gas emission reduction