Distributed Renewable Energy Operating Impacts and Valuation Study

SECTION 2 — SOLAR CHARACTERIZATION
The characterization of the
solar DE technologies provides
a basis for their deployment
within the APS service
territory and the subsequent
value analysis for this Study.
The objective of the solar characterization is to describe how
the specific solar DE technologies would typically be deployed
in the APS service territory and to develop a framework for
their deployment. This forms the building blocks to support all
subsequent analyses in this Study. This section includes a
characterization of the eligible solar DE technologies; the sizes
and types of systems in use, their typical output or savings, and
how they were modeled for the purposes of the Study.
Additionally, this section develops the potential deployment of
solar DE in the APS service territory for the three cases of the
value approach. The results indicate that:
• In a “High Penetration” Case, which assumes
significant PV capital cost reductions, continued federal
tax credits, and increased retail tariffs, APS would likely
meet or exceed the RES goals set for these technologies
by approximately 2020.
• In a “Low Penetration” Case, which assumes constant
PV capital costs (in real terms), an expiration of most
federal tax credits, and retail tariffs limited to inflation,
APS would likely fall far short of the RES goals for all
years in this Study.
• In a “Medium Penetration” Case, which assumes
significant PV capital cost reductions, limited continued
federal tax credits, and increased retail tariffs, APS
would likely meet the RES goals set for these
technologies by 2023.
2.1 Introduction
This section provides a description of the key technological
findings utilized for this Study. This section presents an
individual overview of the three technologies including capital
costs, a description of the modeling efforts utilized to measure
the technology with model inputs and modeling results. This
section reviews PV technology, as it is applied to residential
© 2009 by R. W. Beck, Inc. All rights reserved.
Arizona Public Service