Citation:

Mangiante, M., P. Whung, L. Zhou, A. Cepada, E. Campirano, D. Licon, R. Lawrence, AND M. Torres. Economic and technical assessment of rooftop solar photovoltaic potential in Brownsville, Texas, U.S.A. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 80:101450, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2019.101450

Impact/Purpose:

The City of Brownsville, who is also a co-author for the manuscript, has stated the research results "I believe this study will be a great asset in our attempts to continue moving PV in the Rio Grande Valley." The City of Brownsville, Texas (median household income was approximately $34,255 in 2016) was interested in evaluating solar feasibility for their city, but lacked information to make informed policy decisions on PV development. This paper assessed the technical and economic feasibility of solar development for individual homes in the City of Brownsville using LiDAR and local information. Residential technical and economic potential was assessed by optimizing the internal rate of return (IRR) and an average residential building demand profile to determine ideal size and placement of solar arrays.

Description:

Localized assessment of solar energy economic feasibility will benefit the structuring of residential solar energy deployment globally. In the U.S. growing interest in rooftop residential solar among city managers has spurred the development of photovoltaic (PV) feasibility maps of the technical and economic solar potential within cities. The City of Brownsville, Texas was interested in evaluating solar feasibility for their city but lacked information to make informed policy decisions on PV development. This paper presents novel and systems approaches for determining the technical and economic feasibility of solar development for homes in the Brownsville using LiDAR and local information. Residential technical and economic potential was assessed by optimizing the internal rate of return (IRR) and an average residential building demand profile to determine ideal size and placement of solar arrays. Results showed that residential structures in Brownsville have the technical potential to generate approximately 11% of the total energy provided by the local utility; however, average IRR was only 2.9% with a payback period of over 15 years. Five neighborhoods in the City of Brownsville were identified with spatially clustered homes that had relatively higher IRRs compared with other areas in the city. Despite the high technical potential, modeled results indicate that perspective home owners interested in solar development may require additional incentives to improve the economic feasibility of PV in Brownsville. This study provides a demonstration of an interdisciplinary systems approach and methodology that can be adopted internationally to evaluate the feasibility of solar development in other areas.

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