Feasibility analysis of PV-BESS systems for industrial consumers

The continuous reduction in renewable energy sources (RES) investment costs creates opportunities for energy consumers to utilize renewable generation and storage to self-generate electricity, thereby lowering their energy costs and limiting their exposure to market price volatility, while at the same time observing strict injection constraints imposed by grid operators. This study investigates the feasibility and optimal sizing of photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) to be deployed behind the meter of a Medium Voltage (MV) industrial consumer. A linear programming mathematical optimization algorithm is developed, accounting for the investment cost of the new PV and BESS installations and the cost of energy absorbed from the grid to cover the prosumer’s energy needs. The analysis spans the period from 2025 to 2045, incorporating long term projections of electricity market prices and PV and BESS technology costs. Various energy tariff structures are assessed, including dynamic and static tariffs for grid energy, as well as net-billing (NB) and zero feed-in (ZFI) schemes. To quantify the merit of alternative investment decisions, total prosumer cost over the entire study period are obtained and the levelized energy cost and internal rate of return metrics are computed and compared for all examined cases.