Grid parity

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Grid parity (engl. Grid parity ) is the state of the same power production costs of renewable energy sources in comparison to the current price of conventional electric energy.

Grid parity is usually considered to have been achieved when, from the point of view of the end consumer, self-produced electricity causes the same costs per kilowatt hour as the purchase from an electricity provider , i.e. electricity purchased from the grid. When making this comparison, it should be noted that the costs of electricity procurement represent full costs ( i.e. include the costs of the electricity grid and taxes in addition to the costs of electricity generation ), while the costs of the end consumer only represent partial costs .

Occasionally the term is also used from the point of view of commercial electricity producers (electricity companies) and the purchase costs of electricity from renewable energies, e.g. B on spot markets, compared with the own generation or purchase costs of conventionally generated electricity. Accordingly, network parity is only given at a much lower price. Here the costs of generating electricity for both methods are compared.

Network parity conditions

As a rule, the term is used in connection with certain renewable energies that are suitable for generation in small private systems and are transferred to the network at the same connection from which the electricity is purchased. This is particularly the case with photovoltaic systems, but also with combined heat and power plants . In these cases, a cost comparison is obvious, since the electricity generated in-house physically directly replaces that obtained from the grid.

The background to integrated systems is the fact that the “cost-covering remuneration” for solar power originally required a multiple of the private electricity purchase costs , but at the same time a continuous regression of this ratio due to falling electricity production costs up to a future “parity” was expected.

Deviating are in stand-alone systems and isolated networks , other factors included in the comparison, such as the cost of the electricity storage when generating the one hand and on the other hand the cost of producing a grid connection to the current reference. The latter can lead to the result that photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, combined heat and power plants also generate electricity in hybrid systems with diesel generators and storage systems (see battery storage power plants ) at lower prices. This applies in particular to remote locations such as mountain huts, holiday homes and complexes, etc. or very low consumption such as parking ticket machines, etc. Especially since battery prices have fallen sharply recently, the price advantage today is usually with a self-sufficient system such as e. B. a solar battery .

Time of grid parity

Household electricity (photovoltaics)

In countries and regions with favorable weather conditions and expensive conventionally generated electricity, grid parity was already achieved in 2010 and 2011: Spain , Portugal , Italy , Malta , Cyprus , Denmark as well as Hawaii and Northern California . In Austria and Germany , grid parity has been achieved in early 2012 in Switzerland , 2015.

It is expected that the oil parity in Germany will be reached in the period 2015 to 2016 [out of date] .

Due to the sharp drop in system prices in 2010 and 2011, grid parity - originally only expected for 2013 and 2014 - can already be achieved in 2012 in the following countries: Australia , Belgium , Hungary , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Croatia , Greece , Ireland , Slovenia , Slovakia and Sweden . Australia achieved grid parity for photovoltaics in 2011. In some areas of Australia the generation costs (including 8 percent profit) per kilowatt hour of a photovoltaic system are lower than the end consumer price for the purchase of fossil electricity. The generation price for electricity from photovoltaic systems in these areas was thus well below the purchase price for grid electricity.

The countries Brazil , France , Japan and Turkey as well as the US state California will achieve grid parity by 2015 , even if household electricity prices do not rise in the future.

Deutsche Bank sees strong growth in photovoltaics because grid parity has been achieved in at least 19 markets worldwide (1/2014). The prices for photovoltaics will continue to fall. Business models beyond feed-in tariffs would increasingly prevail. The further growth is due to the fact that photovoltaics is becoming more and more competitive.

According to a forecast, grid parity for home storage systems powered by electricity from photovoltaics should be achieved in Italy in 2021 and in Germany in 2022.

Industrial electricity (photovoltaics)

The purchase prices for electricity that are paid by industrial companies or commercial operations are in all countries - in some cases very significantly - below the prices that are paid by private households. Measured against the prices for industrial electricity, the so-called “Industrial Grid Parity” was first reached in 2010 in Cyprus and 2011 in Italy.

The "Industrial Grid-Parity" is seen as an important brand for the photovoltaic market, because industrial companies and commercial enterprises can use all the electricity generated in their own photovoltaic systems by their often high and continuous self-consumption and no profit-reducing surplus feed into the public grid need to make.

According to a study by Eclareon (Madrid, Spain), commercial photovoltaic systems have achieved grid parity in Germany, Italy and Spain (03/2014).

Effects of grid parity

It is hoped that if end consumers can produce their own electricity more cheaply than buying it, there will be self-sustaining growth in electricity production facilities from renewable energies. Since grid parity for home storage is not expected until 2020, the profitability of PV systems continues to depend heavily on the price at which operators can sell their excess electricity. For this reason, it is expected that the level of subsidies from the EEG will also determine the expansion of PV systems in Germany over the next few years. However, the battery prices have fallen sharply lately, so that in Germany grid parity for photovoltaics plus storage in a solar battery is expected by 2022.

The profitability of self-consumption of solar power is due to the fact that the costs of purchasing electricity from the power grid represent full costs (i.e., in addition to the costs of power generation, include the costs of the power grid and taxes), while the costs of self-consumption only represent partial costs. The amount of self-consumed solar power is currently marginal. With an increasing proportion of self-consumed solar power, the price of electricity rises, as the fixed costs of the power grid have to be allocated to a lower number of transported kWh . In order to avoid this and an allocation of the network costs based on the originator, a network usage fee and an increased fee are proposed for those who both feed in and withdraw electricity.

In an interview in March 2014, E.on boss Johannes Teyssen said: "I am not assuming that conventional electricity generation will be able to earn any significant amount of money in the future."

Bloomberg New Energy Finance sees a so-called tipping point for wind and solar energy. The prices for wind and solar power have fallen sharply in recent years and today (1/2014) in some areas or parts of the world they are already below the prices for conventional power generation. Prices would continue to fall. The power grids have been greatly expanded worldwide so that they can now also receive and distribute electricity from renewable energies. In addition, the renewable energies have ensured that electricity prices have come under great pressure worldwide. Renewable energies are also enthusiastically received by consumers. This system change should already be apparent to many people in 2014.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Marlies Uken: E.on tests solar power. In: The time . June 3, 2009, accessed January 25, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Bloomberg New Energy Finance: In many countries, generating solar power with photovoltaics is already cheaper than the price of electricity for end customers. In: Bloomberg . May 16, 2012, accessed May 21, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b Gaining on the grid. (PDF; 1.1 MB) (PDF, 1 MB, English). In: Frontiers. BP , August 2007, accessed January 25, 2012 .
  4. ↑ http://www.brain4sustain.ch/schweizer-photovoltaik-erreich-netzparitaet/
  5. ↑ Volker Quaschning ; Johannes Less; Tjarko Tjaden: The underrated market. In: BWK. Vol. 64 (2012) No. 7/8, pp. 25-28.
  6. ↑ a b Ch. Breyer, A. Gerlach: Global Overview on Grid-Parity Event Dynamics. (PDF; 585 kB) (PDF, 571 kB, English) Analysis of grid parity. q-cells, 2010, accessed March 9, 2012 .
  7. ^ Andrew Blakers: Retail grid parity for photovoltaics. (PDF, 38 kB, English) Analysis of grid parity. (No longer available online.) Australian National University , August 2011, archived from the original on January 3, 2013 ; Retrieved January 25, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hans-josef-fell.de
  8. ↑ Deutsche Bank "Deutsche Bank: Second gold rush for photovoltaics begins" January 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ a b c PV Magazine - Photovoltaic home storage systems in Europe at the turning point - Profitability in Germany and Italy in sight
  10. ↑ Nils-Viktor Sorge: "Major customers are running away from RWE, Eon and Co.". In: Manager magazine . October 29, 2012, accessed November 8, 2012 .
  11. ↑ solarserver.de ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "New study: Commercial photovoltaic systems have achieved grid parity in Germany, Italy and Spain" March 29, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.solarserver.de
  12. ↑ Dieter Dürand: "Why should we need desert power?" Interview with Q-Cells boss Anton Milner. In: Wirtschaftswoche . July 13, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2012 .
  13. ↑ http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/743100_Schatten-ueber-dem-Solarstrom.html
  14. ^ Andreas Mihm: Network users have to pay; in: FAZ of June 14, 2013, p. 11
  15. ↑ E.on boss: Teyssen considers nuclear and coal power to be barely profitable , quote: "SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is the classic power plant business dead ?, Teyssen: I do not assume that there will be any significant amount of money to be made from conventional power generation in the future can. " In: Spiegel Online from March 18, 2014.
  16. ↑ Bloomberg New Energy Finance “OK, so I am no Vladimir Nabokov. But this is an example of a phenomenon I have written about before in this column - phase change, the idea that when important transitions happen in complex systems, initially little on the surface appears to alter, and then suddenly the change is obvious for the eye to see. I believe that the energy system is on the cusp of such a transformation, and that 2014 is when it is about to become obvious to a whole lot more people. Many of the signs have been building up in the past few years - the way the costs of solar and wind power have closed in on those for conventional power, even beginning to undercut them without subsidies in many parts of the world; the way grids have become capable of integrating much higher percentages of renewable electricity than previously possible; the way renewable energy with no marginal cost of production has disrupted the clearing prices of electricity markets; the way utilities are finally realizing that this poses an existential threat to their business model; the way consumers have enthusiastically adopted new energy technologies when embodied in cool products like the Nest thermostat and the Tesla Model S; the way investors have started to become concerned about stranded fossil fuel assets. These are all tipping points - once passed, it is impossible to go back. "January 29, 2014.