Mapping the Value of Commercial Pv Applications in the Us -- Accounting for Externalities

In previous publications, we reported on the geographical distribution of the economic feasibility of customer-owned commercial PV systems in the US [1,2]. The results showed that several regions in the country were near or above economic breakeven. However, we noted that these results only reflected business as usual assumptions. They did not account for existing or prospective external value elements that could, depending on the application, considerably increase PV’s feasibility threshold. In this paper, we look at the individual and combined impact of the following value elements: (1) Replacement Value, (2) enhanced load management value, (3) emergency value and (4) environmental value. We show that accounting for these elements could significantly increase the size of costeffective niche markets for customer-owned commercial PV installation.