https://doi.org/10.1051/epjpv/2024005
Review
Ground-mounted or residential rooftop photovoltaic plant − European production or Chinese production: which is the most environmentally sustainable system? A case study in Italy
Ricerca Sistema Energetico—RSE S.p.A., 20134 Milan, Italy
*e-mail: elisabetta.brivio@rse-web.it
Received:
25
September
2023
Accepted:
14
January
2024
Published online: 19 March 2024
In recent years, decarbonization policies have pushed for a significant increase in renewable energies for power generation applications. European strategy aims to bring online over 320 GW of solar photovoltaics by 2025 and almost 600 GW by 2030. In this context, it is not only important to figure out the main hotspots of PV system but also to understand which are the best configurations from an environmental point of view. The analysis proposed in this paper aims to compare the environmental benefits of producing 1 kWh through two different system configurations: a ground-mounted PV plant (84 MW) and a residential rooftop PV plant (3 kW). In particular, the PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) technology is investigated. In addition, in order to assess the influence of the energy mix used in the production of the PV components (mono-Si ingot, wafer, cell and module) on the LCA results, two different production sites are explored, i.e., in China and in Europe.
Key words: Climate change / photovoltaic system / PERC / environmental impacts / life cycle assessment / carbon footprint
© E. Brivio et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
