Citizen Participation to Finance PV Power Plants Focused on Self-Consumption on Company Roofs—Findings from an Austrian Case Study

Matthias Linhart, Valerie Rodin, Simon Moser and Andrea Kollmann
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Matthias Linhart: Department of Energy Economics, Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University, A-4040 Linz, Austria
Valerie Rodin: Department of Energy Technology, Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University, A-4040 Linz, Austria
Simon Moser: Department of Energy Economics, Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University, A-4040 Linz, Austria
Andrea Kollmann: Department of Energy Economics, Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University, A-4040 Linz, Austria

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Despite large amounts of available roof space, long pay-back periods for investments in photovoltaic (PV) power plants often hinder PV installations in industrial parks. Photovoltaic citizen participation initiatives (PV-CPI) are an alternative way of financing PV power plants that add non-financial benefits to these investments. This paper analyzed the feasibility of the installation of PV power plants focused on high rates of self-consumption financed by citizen participation initiatives on the roofs of five companies located in the Austrian Ennshafen industrial business park based on the net present value and the discounted pay-back period and compared it to a standard financing scheme, assuming a predetermined interest rate for participants as well as economies of scale with respect to the specific installation costs due to a joint purchase of the PV power plants. To calculate the feasibility, site-specific data and literature input have been used. The results show that despite an interest rate above the current interest rates of conservative forms of investments provided to (small-scale) investors, a payback-period of 17–23 years can be reached while the joint purchase can lead to a competitive feasibility of the PV-CPI compared to an individual purchase of PV power plants.

Keywords: photovoltaic power plants; case study; citizen participation initiative; energy cooperation; feasibility; self-consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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