Is rooftop solar PV a viable alternative to residential electricity demand?

The results show that current global rooftop potential is 1.5 times the residential electricity demand. The market penetration of rooftop solar PV is much more dependent on socio-economic and policy factors than on the biophysical potential. Several aspects require further discussion.

Does residential solar PV cost a lot?

The costs of electricity from residential rooftop solar PV have fallen especially rapidly. In four metropolitan areas in the state of California, for example, the LCOE for residential solar PV was seen to decrease 45% on average between 2010 (first quarter) and 2016 (second quarter).

How much electricity does a rooftop photovoltaic use?

The rooftop photovoltaic cost-supply curves show a potential of 8.3 PWh y −1 in 2015 on a global suitable roof area of 36 billion m 2 and cost levels of 0.09–0.5 $ kWh −1. The total potential of 8.3 PWh y −1 is roughly 1.5 times the 2015 global residential electricity demand.

When will rooftop solar PV installation start?

While calculating the SP and LCOE, it was assumed that no rooftop solar PV installation exists globally, and all the additional capacities will start their commissioning from the year 2019.

How much does rooftop PV cost?

We chose European cost levels (280 $ kW −1 additional cost for rooftop PV) over Chinese and Indian levels (120 $ kW −1) due to the expected rise of labour costs in China and India. Lastly, in our long-term scenario, we assume a floor cost of 150 $ kW −1 to prevent utility-scale PV costs going to near-zero.

What is global rooftop PV potential?

This study estimates global technical and economic rooftop PV potential and performs a long-term scenario assessment with a broad range of regional factors, going beyond earlier scenario analysis that focused mainly on utility-scale PV. The results show that current global rooftop potential is 1.5 times the residential electricity demand.