Commercialization of Solar Energy by Regulated Utilities: Economic and Financial Risk Analysis

摘要

Utilities are being called upon to accelerate the adoption of residential solar energy systems by providing financial incentives. The main types of utility incentives are described and their relative costs are compared. These comparisons are not definitive, however, because there are a great variety of different features each generic incentive might have. Some of these features are described, and their impact on cost are estimated. Having generated a taxonomy of incentives, a taxonomy of risk is introduced. There is no such thing as risk in general, but rather a small number of definable risks in particular cases. The taxonomy of incentives is then compared to the taxonomy of risk. Where differential risk impacts appear likely among the incentives, these are identified. Risk impacts are divided into those that can be modeled by simulation of the corporate financial structure and those which cannot. Some risks are not amenable to quantitative study, others cannot be studied from the microeconomic perspective. There are differences of opinion on what risk falls into which category. Having identified a set of risk measures that are amenable to study by corporate financial structure simulation, the methods and models available to do such analysis are reviewed. (ERA citation 06:005881)