Opportunity for Revamping/Repowering of a Large Photovoltaic Plant in Sicily, a Case Study

The current Italian photovoltaic park begins to show significant underperformance in efficiency mainly due to degradation of the modules, component defects, incorrect design, construction and maintenance of the systems. Such criticisms have the highest occurrences for the older installations which have had to meet feed-in tariff deadlines. According to GSE data, in Italy at the end of 2013 about 11,000 photovoltaic systems of between 200 kW and 5000 MW were installed, for a total power of about 11.0 GW, the prospective of upgrading and improving these older plants becomes progressively significant to both producers and PV plant owners. To meet these new needs, the Italian Energy Service System Operator (GSE) has recently issued new directives for repowering that allow producers of photovoltaic energy to maintain and modernize their plants without losing incentives. To evaluate the opportunities deriving from the possibility of revamping existing plants, a case study on a PV plant built in Sicily for which significant production losses were found is presented. The total investment costs, estimated in approximately € 444,000, is based on a market survey and the advice of industry experts. Considering the residual incentive period still recognized equal to 13, the economic return on investment is expected 8th year of post-revamping. The possibility of making this type of operation compatible with the maintenance of incentives is, therefore, an opportunity to increase the efficiency and enhancement of the national photovoltaic park and at the same time a potentially advantageous investment for producers.