EVs, Batteries Can Drive Solar Rooftop Growth, Says Report

In order to boost the growth of renewable energy including solar rooftop, the dropping costs of electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries with equal grid market access can be helpful, says the report released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

This ‘Electric Vehicles and Batteries Can Drive Growth of Residential Solar’ report is based on Germany and Britain and examines the economic impact on these regions on combining the rooftop solar with EVs and batteries; along with the effects of different policy incentives and disincentives.

On the view of scraping subsidies in renewables, IEEFA energy analyst and co-author of the report, Gerard Wynn said that, “Generous renewable energy subsidies have had their day, but scrapping these entirely and replacing them with nothing will damage renewables markets.”

While on trimming the battery and electric vehicles cost, Wynn further added that, “The falling cost of battery storage and EVs can drive new growth in renewables in Europe, but only if these low-carbon technologies have the same access to electricity network markets as fossil-fuel based ones.”

According to the report, solar power, battery storage and EVs will be at the centre of global energy system disruption in the future, because of declining costs and alignment with current trends towards “decarbonisation, decentralisation, digitalisation and democratisation,”

However, policy barriers and uncertainty will slow down this transition, and make it more costly, it added.

Here’re the main findings of the report:

• Falling EV and battery costs mean combined solar-battery-EV systems could quickly become an obvious choice for households with south-facing roofs and off-street parking.
• Payback periods are much shorter for solar installations in Germany, at 6 years as compared to 19 years in Britain, due to solar feed-in tariff and higher residential power prices.
• Adding an EV and battery system already reduces solar payback periods in Britain.
• Systems would become even more attractive under seemingly no-brainer regulatory reform that allows households in Britain to sell their solar power at least at wholesale power market prices, and by doubling today’s income from grid services markets.