Photovoltaic self-consumption in buildings : A review

Summary, in English

The interest in self-consumption of PV electricity from grid-connected residential systems is increasing among PV system owners and in the scientific community. Self-consumption can be defined as the share of the total PV production directly consumed by the PV system owner. With decreased subsidies for PV electricity in several countries, increased self-consumption could raise the profit of PV systems and lower the stress on the electricity distribution grid. This review paper summarizes existing research on PV self-consumption and options to improve it. Two options for increased self-consumption are included, namely energy storage and load management, also called demand side management (DSM). Most of the papers examine PV-battery systems, sometimes combined with DSM. The results show that it is possible to increase the relative self-consumption by 13-24% points with a battery storage capacity of 0.5-1. kW. h per installed kW PV power and between 2% and 15% points with DSM, both compared to the original rate of self-consumption. The total number of papers is however rather limited and further research and more comparative studies are needed to give a comprehensive view of the technologies and their potential. Behavioral responses to PV self-consumption and the impact on the distribution grid also need to be further studied.

• Author: Rasmus Luthander; Joakim Widén; Daniel Nilsson; Jenny Palm
• Publishing year: 2015-03-05
• Language: English
• Pages: 80-94
• Publication/Series: Applied Energy
• Volume: 142
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.12.028
• Document type: Journal article review
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Energy Systems
• Keywords: Demand side management; Energy storage; Household electricity; Load shifting; Photovoltaics; Self-consumption
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0306-2619