Design, Greenhouse Emissions, and Environmental Payback of a Photovoltaic Solar Energy System

Herwin Saito Schultz and Monica Carvalho ()
Additional contact information
Herwin Saito Schultz: Graduate Program in Renewable Energy, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-970, Brazil
Monica Carvalho: Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-970, Brazil

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-24

Abstract: This study aims to design a 16.4 MW photovoltaic solar system located in the Brazilian Northeast and quantify the associated greenhouse gas emissions and environmental payback. The energy system was designed to minimize the Levelized Cost of Energy. The greenhouse gas emissions were quantified with the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, expressing the environmental impact in terms of generated energy (kg CO 2 -eq/kWh) and following ISO 14040 and 14044. The environmental payback considered the Brazilian electricity mix and degradation of the panels. The results indicated a system capable of producing 521,443 MWh in 25 years, with an emission factor of 0.044 kg CO 2 -eq/kWh and environmental payback of five years and eight months. The emission factor is at least ten times lower than thermoelectric natural gas power plants. The solar panels were the main contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions, representing 90.59% of overall emissions. It is concluded that photovoltaic energy systems are crucial in the search for emissions mitigation, even in a country that presents a predominantly renewable electricity matrix, with demonstrated environmental benefits.

Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment; solar energy; SDG 12; carbon footprint; electricity generation; photovoltaic generation (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/16/6098/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/16/6098/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:16:p:6098-:d:894919

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().