In 2012, a consortium of 21 partners from 16 EU countries started the PV GRID project with the objective to prepare the grounds for the large-scale integration of photovoltaic systems in distribution grids across Europe and bring forward concrete suggestions on how this can be achieved. In this follow-up feature, we discover what progress has been made.
PV GRID is a European project operating in the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, started in May 2012. The project consortium is composed by 21 partners covering 16 European countries, coordinated by the German solar industry association, BSW-Solar.
The overall goal of the PV GRID project is to address the regulatory, administrative and technical requirement barriers hampering the integration of PV into the electricity distribution grids in Europe through two main actions:
Assessing national frameworks for PV development in the participating countries
Enhancing PV hosting capacity in distribution grids by favouring the adoption of available technical solutions.
Assessment of national frameworks for PV development
Over its first year of activity, the PV GRID consortium has taken over the legacy of the previous PV LEGAL project by redesigning and extending its research activity to 16 European countries.
Procedures and Indicators
The results of this initial research activity are available in the online PV GRID database that offers, utilising a practical step-by-step approach, a description of administrative procedures and other requirements necessary to authorise, build, connect to the grid and operate a PV system in each of the participating countries. The information is presented with the aid of intuitive flowcharts, and is organised in three separate market segments: residential, commercial, and industrial ground-mounted PV systems.
The description of procedures and requirements is also complemented by quantitative indicators, obtained by measuring the hands-on experience of PV developers by means of an extensive interview campaign.
The share of legal-administrative costs over total project development costs can provide an idea of the economic burden that project developers have to bear in order to secure the authorisations needed to build and connect a PV system. This burden is normally reflected in national PV system prices.
The total labour required for accomplishing the permitting and grid connection procedures can instead serve as a measure of the complexity and lack of transparency hidden within these administrative procedures.
The total duration of the development process for a PV project is another measure of the economic risk faced by investors: the more it takes to build and connect a PV system, the longer investors are financially exposed without earning revenues. Additionally, the waiting time spent uselessly by a developer waiting for an answer from an authority or a grid operator can be a measure of the inefficiency shown by such parties in dealing with their tasks.
