Potential analysis of roof-mounted solar photovoltaics in Sweden

Ying Yang, Pietro Elia Campana, Bengt Stridh and Jinyue Yan

Applied Energy, 2020, vol. 279, issue C, No S0306261920312708

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic energy, driven mostly by the residential and commercial market segments, has been growing a lot in recent years in Sweden. In response to the commitment towards sustainability goals, this paper explores the potential of roof-mounted solar photovoltaic projects. This paper focuses on: roof area estimation, potential installed capacity, and potential electricity generation, at the single municipal scale and at the national scale. The following categories of different building types have been investigated: residential buildings, industrial buildings, buildings of social function, buildings of business function, buildings of economic/agricultural function, buildings of complementary function, and buildings of other unknown functions. The analysis starts from Västerås, a typical Swedish municipality and ranking seventh among the largest cities in Sweden. An estimate of 5.74 km2 available roof area potential is calculated, by considering factors such as building purposes, roof orientations, shadows and obstacles. The total potential installed capacity is calculated, assuming the installation of commercial photovoltaic modules, and design parameters for flat roofs such as inter-row distances and tilt angles. With the inputs of meteorological parameters and geographical information, the potential yearly electricity generation is calculated. The results reveal 727, 848, and 956 MWp potential installed capacity and 626, 720, and 801 GWh annual electricity production for Västerås on pitched roofs and flat roofs with three scenarios, respectively. The extrapolation of the methodology to the entire of Sweden yields a total of 504 km2 usable roof area and 65, 75, and 84 GWp installed capacity. Finally, we reveal a new understanding of usable roof area distribution and of potential installed capacity of roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems, which can largely help evaluate subsidy scale and solar energy policy formulation in Sweden.

Keywords: Roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems; Building roof area; Installed capacity potential; Subsidy scales; Geographic information system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115786

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