Reforming Solar Net Metering
Abstract
One of the important policies aimed at diversifying the energy resource mix, stimulating
local economic growth, and encouraging private investment in solar energy is Net Energy
Metering (NEM). Under current NEM policies, participating customers generating electricity
to serve their load can receive a financial credit for any surplus energy that they
feed back to their utility’s grid. Unfortunately, several studies have shown that
NEM policies are regressive onto low-income, disadvantaged communities as the revenue
loss for utilities causes them to raise electricity rates in order to recover their
costs. To quantify how NEM schema can potentially change the grid power flow and lead
to variance in grid congestion, Locational Marginal Price, and utility’s avoided cost,
we conducted an optimal power flow analysis in a synthetic IEEE 30-bus grid under
192 scenarios for three States (CA, FL, & MA). We used NREL’s System Advisor Model
(SAM) to create synthetic data of our transmission grid using both the electricity
load of a combination of residential and commercial buildings within our 30-bus system,
and the behind-the-meter solar PV production generated using PVWatts & PySAM tools.
We evaluated NEM policies by performing a cost-benefit analysis from the perspective
of the NEM customers, non-NEM customers and the utilities, to demonstrate how NEM
policies result in a net cost. We proposed several recommendations that can be incorporated
into future NEM tariffs that will make them more equitable for the non-NEM ratepayers.
Type
Master's projectSubject
Solar EnergyNet Energy Metering
Renewable Energy
Power Flow Analysis
Electricity Rates
Financial Analysis
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22629Citation
Ghadiri, Franco; Krishnan, Akshay; & Li, Ruoshui (2021). Reforming Solar Net Metering. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22629.Collections
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