REVISTA DYNA ENERGÍA

Key words:

Energías renovables, energía solar, fotovoltaica, normativa, análisis económico, renewable energy, solar energy, PV technology, regulatory changes, economic analysis

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

In Spain, solar photovoltaic (PV) power has undergone eleven regulatory changes for the last twelve years. This situation is partly motivated by the uncontrolled increase of the capacity installed. As a consequence, the Spanish PV sector has moved far from being simple and predictable to being especially complex and volatile due to the subsequent regulatory changes experienced.
From a technical point of view, the present paper analyses in detail the main regulatory modifications implemented in the Spanish PV sector for the last years. The most significant changes are associated with the feed-in-tariffs, where a decrease up to 80% has been found out in just five years. In addition, an experimental contribution is included in this paper, which is based on the data collected from a real PV power plant connected to the network in 2009. Based on the field data recorded, a tool that evaluates the economic consequences of the regulatory changes on different solar power plants has been developed. Specifically, a wide range of network connection years have been simulated in order to be compared with the real PV power plant considered. The results obtained are thus of particular interest for investors, policy makers, and other stakeholders interested in the development of the Spanish PV market since a better understanding of this sector is required.