A Techno-Economic Comparison Analysis for Optimal PV Revamping Strategies

At the end of 2023, the cumulatively installed photovoltaic capacity in Europe reached more than 300 GW. This includes PV systems that are reaching 10 or more years of operations and constitutes a market opportunity for revamping (replacing at least some hardware with recent a more efficient one). Indeed, in the last decade PV equipment performances have greatly improved while PV equipment prices and consequently the value of injected electricity have dropped. The technical and economic benefits of different revamping and repowering strategies are assessed taking as comparison point a 15-year old underperforming PV plant. Given the uncertainty on key technical and economic parameters, a prospective approach is taken to identify which boundary conditions (technical performances and economic performances of the PV plant pre and post-intervention) allow for a profitable revamping or repowering. Results show that there is in many cases an economic interest to revamp (or repower) a PV plant still benefitting from an attractive FIT. Yet, the exact economic attractiveness is highly influenced by the existing PV plant’s performance (before undertaken action), and the necessary costs to perform the undertaken action. Hence a project per project diagnostic taking into account technical, economic and regulatory aspects is always needed.