The Energy and Environmental Performance of Ground-Mounted Photovoltaic Systems-A Timely Update

被引:102
作者
Leccisi, Enrica [1 ,3 ]
Raugei, Marco [2 ,3 ]
Fthenakis, Vasilis [3 ,4 ]
机构
[1] Parthenope Univ Naples, Dept Sci & Technol, Ctr Direz Isola C4, I-80143 Naples, Italy
[2] Oxford Brookes Univ, Dept Mech Engn & Math Sci, Wheatley OX33 1HK, England
[3] Columbia Univ, Ctr Life Cycle Anal, New York, NY 10027 USA
[4] Brookhaven Natl Lab, Photovolta Environm Res Ctr, Upton, NY 11973 USA
关键词
photovoltaic (PV); crystalline Si (c-Si); cadmium telluride (CdTe); copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS); life cycle assessment (LCA); net energy analysis (NEA); energy return on investment (EROI); energy pay-back time (EPBT); environmental performance; INVESTMENT EROI; CO2; EMISSIONS; PV; ELECTRICITY; RETURN; PAYBACK;
D O I
10.3390/en9080622
中图分类号
TE [石油、天然气工业]; TK [能源与动力工程];
学科分类号
0807 ; 0820 ;
摘要
Given photovoltaics' (PVs) constant improvements in terms of material usage and energy efficiency, this paper provides a timely update on their life-cycle energy and environmental performance. Single-crystalline Si (sc-Si), multi-crystalline Si (mc-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) systems are analysed, considering the actual country of production and adapting the input electricity mix accordingly. Energy pay-back time (EPBT) results for fixed-tilt ground mounted installations range from 0.5 years for CdTe PV at high-irradiation (2300 kWh/(m(2).yr)) to 2.8 years for sc-Si PV at low-irradiation (1000 kWh/(m(2).yr)), with corresponding quality-adjusted energy return on investment (EROIPE-eq) values ranging from over 60 to similar to 10. Global warming potential (GWP) per kWhel averages out at similar to 30 g (CO2-eq), with lower values (down to similar to 10 g) for CdTe PV at high irradiation, and up to similar to 80 g for Chinese sc-Si PV at low irradiation. In general, results point to CdTe PV as the best performing technology from an environmental life-cycle perspective, also showing a remarkable improvement for current production modules in comparison with previous generations. Finally, we determined that one-axis tracking installations can improve the environmental profile of PV systems by approximately 10% for most impact metrics.
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页数:13
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