Business Development and Environmental Impact in the Solar (PV) Field

Abstract

The techno-economic analysis of a PV system is designed to measure the viability of the designed system from an economical and technological point of view assuming some specific environmental conditions. In this research, for the techno-economic analysis of PV system the authors are focused on four general categories of factors which are highly influential on the investment decision in this field. These are the PV system costs, the electricity cost, the sunlight and other environmental characteristics and the financial incentives. Each of this factors is analyzed in order to understand and evaluate the general conditions that influence the decision in the photovoltaic business. The methodology that is used for explaining the real business environment in PV field and the main indicators that can estimate the investment profitability is the case study related to formal opportunities for developing PV investment projects in Romania. The investors in PV field have to understand the life cycle of a PV system that can give an overlook of the cost reduction opportunities and also make them sensible to the decommissioning phase of such an investment. For future investments in the PV field in Europe the authors identified and analyzed the main factors that characterize the PV business development in the next period.