A combined assessment of the energy, economic and environmental performance of a photovoltaic system in the Italian context

Policymakers are increasingly moving towards greater investments in research in the renewable energy sector, in order to reduce costs, making private investment affordable, so as to accelerate the achievement of grid parity. This evidence boosts for investigating the way the convenience of investing in a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, in Italy, is unrelated to any form of public incentive. Under this perspective, this paper is focused upon designing a residential 3 kW PV system and providing a full set of indicators for the assessment of its multi-dimension performance in an holistic, integrated approach. Particularly, energy and environmental indicators, likewise the Energy Payback Time (EPBT), Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and Environmental Impact Mitigation potential (EIMP) allowed the authors to measure some of the relevant sustainability-related issues of a residential PV system. Those were found to be equal to 1.35 years, 7.05 and 23,215 kg CO2 eq, respectively. Whereas, the authors used the Levelized Cost of Energy (0.15064 euro/kWh), the Net Present Value (euro 2881), and the Payback Period (8.26 years), to evaluate the economic and financial feasibility of the PV system modelized. The variations of EPBT and EROIEL with respect to solar radiation and the efficiency of the PV system and LCOE to discount rate and initial investment cost have been investigated through a sensitivity analysis.