Merit order effect: the case of solar PV and electricity spot markets

This presentation proposes a method to quantify the merit order effect of solar PV in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland for the period 2007-2103.

Henri was invited to speak during the EU PVSEC in September 2014. This presentation describes the article in which Henri Gouzerh and Nicolas Gourvitch propose a method to quantify the merit order effect of solar PV in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland for the period 2007-2013. They calculated the savings for power purchasers generated by the decrease in electricity spot market prices observed when solar PV plants feed electricity into the grid. The overall savings amounted to EUR 20 Bn across those five European countries for the 2007-2013 period, and were worth about 100 EUR per MWh of PV electricity fed into the grid, underlining the social value of the power generated by PV.