Costs and evolutions of components and substructures (BOS)
OFATE - Appels d’offres « centrales photovoltaïques au sol » en France et en Allemagne : coûts et conditions27 Novembre 2019Franck AL SHAKARCHI – Chef de Service Systèmes Electriques et Stockage - CEA
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COSTS AND EVOLUTIONS OF COMPONENTS AND SUBSTRUCTURES (BOS)
References
• CRE:• Coûts et rentabilités du grand photovoltaïque en métropole continentale, FÉVRIER 2019
• EU –JRC:• Jäger-Waldau, A., PV Status Report 2018, EUR 29463 EN, Publications Office of the European Union,
Luxembourg, 2018, ISBN 978-92-79-97465-6, doi:10.2760/826496, JRC113626
• FRAUNHOFER:• Q1 2019 - PHOTOVOLTAICS REPORT
• IRENA:• IRENA (2019), Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2018, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu
Dhabi.
• NREL:• Fu, Ran, David Feldman, and Robert Margolis. 2018. U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2018.
Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-72399.• Fu, Ran, Timothy Remo, and Robert Margolis. 2018. 2018 U.S. Utility-Scale Photovoltaics-Plus-Energy Storage
System Costs Benchmark. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-71714.
• Scientific paper:• VARTIAINEN ET AL. Impact of weighted average cost of capital, capital expenditure, and other parameters on
future utility‐scale PV levelised cost of electricity
• BOS = everything except PV modules• Components: Structures, trackers, converters, cables, safety, grid
connection,…
• Installation: civil works, mechanical and electrical assembly,…
• Other costs to be considered for CAPEX:• Soft costs: engineering and system design, permitting, financing costs,…
• Other component associated to PV plants: Energy Storage Systems
Components and substructures (BOS)
• In France, for plants planned to be commissionned in 2020:• Average of 700, 800, 900, 1000€/kWp for 30, 15, 10 et 5 MWp
• CAPEX variation around average: +/- 20%
• Decrease of about 30% since 2017-2018
• In Germany, CAPEX ~10% lower• Estimation based on LCOE : similar LCOE with less production
CAPEX of utility-scale PV plants – France and Germany
• Based on 2018 data:• USA similar to Germany, 10% lower than France
• Italy, China, India: 10-15% lower than Germany, 20-25% lower than France
• In 2020, lowest CAPEX < 500/kWp for some places
• Could reach 250-350 €/kWp
CAPEX of utility-scale PV plants – other countries
Different from NREL estimation: 1,13€/Wp in 2018 Similar to Germany
VARTIAINEN ET AL
• Inverters: 50-70€/kWp in France• 30% lower in the USA BUT should be similar now 30€/kWp
• Electrical BOS: 80-220€/kWp in France• Similar in the USA
• Structures: 110-180€/kWp in France• 20-30% lower in the USA
Cost of components – utility-scale PV plants
• -40% since 2017-2018
Cost of inverters - evolutions
• CAPEX as low as 300€/kWh, all included, for 4-h ESS
• Could reach 100-150€/kWh in 2030
CAPEX for Energy Storage Systems
VARTIAINEN ET AL
