Study on the Incentives Mechanism for the Development of Distributed Photovoltaic Systems from a Long-Term Perspective

Abstract

Sharing the benefits of distribution systems from the integration of distributed photovoltaic systems (DGPVs) with investors is vital to the coordinated development of DGPVs and active distribution systems (ADN). The investment and development of DGPVs, incentive policies, and the development of distribution system interact, and the interactions vary with the changes in the on-grid capacity of DGPVs. In this paper, an event-driven co-simulation platform is built to simulate the abovementioned interaction among DGPVs, ADN, and incentive policy under a long-term time frame. The platform includes an investment model of DGPV investors and an ADN model with consideration of the growth of the ADN. On this platform, we study how multiple factors, including incentive system, global horizontal radiance (GHR), and cost, affect the investment and integration of DGPVs in the future 10 years. Simulation and analysis showed that investors’ decisions are more sensitive to variation in GHR and cost, followed by variation in tariff system, subsidy, and self-use ratio. Distribution subsidies have certain impact on the development of DGPV and could partially replace the national and provincial capacity and generation subsidies. When the on-grid capacity reaches a certain level, the distribution subsidy reaches a dynamic equilibrium.