Comprehensive evaluation of integrated applications of photovoltaics: case study of three projects in Tianjin, China

Solar energy has gradually become one of the priorities to sustainable energy supply, driven by the urgent need for energy security and the imminent threats of climate change. Diverse photovoltaic (PV) technologies can be applied and integrated with various industries to significantly increase the usage and output value of different assets, such as land appreciation within limited space. In order to quantitatively evaluate the overall performance of various integrated applications of PV, a comprehensive benefit evaluation index system, involving economy, environment, society, and land use, was proposed and applied to three selected PV projects, PV-JWZ, PV-NHPZ, and PV-DPBD, namely, in Tianjin, China. The results indicated that these projects all have great development potential due to their remarkable benefits of energy saving and emission reduction. Therein, the total income of PV-JWZ within 25 years is equal to 1441.9 million CNY, which is dominated by extra income from industrial convergence; PV-NHPZ can offset 231.8 t/(a·hm2) CO2, attributed to its larger installed capacity; while PV-DPBD would acquire strong policy support for distributed PV to further promote the zero-carbon buildings, owing to lower land consumption of 1.4 hm2/MW. By revealing the effectiveness and feasibility of various PV projects, this study could provide a theoretical reference for the promoting and planning various integrated applications of PV in different areas, according to local conditions.