Estimating Air Pollution Related Solar Insolation Reduction in the Assessment of the Commercial and Industrial Rooftop Solar PV Potential

Abstract

Air pollution is a serious issue and it has been becoming increasingly urgent over last year, mainly as a result of its effects on human health. Recently, however, a number of scientific papers has appeared reporting on air pollution effects in other fields such as the photovoltaic energy generation and, notably, on the relation between the reduction of the solar insolation reaching the PV systems and PM2.5 concentrations in the air. In this study, the rooftop solar PV potential of commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings at regional scale has been estimated tacking into account the spatially distributed solar insolation reduction factor, due to the PM2.5 in the air. High resolution LiDAR data and advanced digital surface modeling techniques have been used for determining the available suitable rooftop area and estimating the technical solar PV potential of the C&I rooftops. For the C&I study area of Aversa Nord (South Italy), we find that the suitable rooftops have annually a total electric power potential of 50.75 GWh / year. For this area, an annual average PM2.5 concentrations of about 13 μg/m3 results in a nearly 5% annual solar insolation reduction. Thus, if properly located, the large scale rooftop PV systems could significantly decrease primary energy consumption and contribute to reduce the CO2 emissions.