Modeling the Allocation and Economic Evaluation of PV Panels and Wind Turbines in Urban Areas

A model for allocating PV panels and wind turbines in urban areas is developed. Firstly, it examines the spatial and technical requirements for the installation of PV panels and wind turbines and then evaluates their economic feasibilities in order to generate the cost effective electricity neutral plan. The model is applied on a residential district in the municipality of Eindhoven, the Netherlands and simulates the electricity generation of allocated renewable energy technologies to satisfy the demand of the area in hourly time-steps over a one year. The allocation model runs for different combinations of PV panels and wind turbines. Accordingly, four scenarios based on the different technical and economic assumptions are conducted and energy and economic indicators are compared. Results show that in the current situation without subsidies, PV panels are not economic, compared with wind turbines, but if appropriate subsidies are devised, they become comparable. The analyses also show that the allocation model help planners and policy makers to examine the influence of different energy policy tools for the promotion of renewable energy technologies in urban areas.