Techno-economic evaluation of self-consumption with PV/battery systems under different regulation schemes

The recent disclosure of new and innovative home battery systems has been seen by many as a catalyser for a solar energy revolution, and has created high expectations in the sector. Many observers have predicted an uptake of combined PV/Battery units, which, could ultimately disconnect from the grid and lead to autonomous homes or mini-grids. However, most of the comments originating from social media, blogs or press articles lack proper cost evaluation and realistic simulations. This work aims at bridging this gap by simulating self-consumption in different EU countries, for different household profiles with or without battery. Results indicate that (1) Although decreasing at a fast pace, the cost of domestic Li-Ion storage is most likely still too high for a large-scale market uptake in Europe; (2) PV incentives based on net metering are not favourable to home batteries; (3) Home battery profitability and future uptake mainly depend on the indirect self-consumption subsidies provided by the structure of the retail prices; (4) These systems do not allow residential consumers to go off-grid. They only allow for a maximum self-sufficiency ratio close to 70%.