Skip to main content
Article
A Generic Economic Framework for Electric Rate Design with Prosumers
Solar Energy
  • Mahelet Fikru, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Casey I. Canfield, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

Location-varying electric rates may incentivize distributed energy resources (DERs) with lower system costs. However, the distributional impact among prosumers versus traditional consumers is not clear. This study presents a generic economic framework for evaluating novel rate designs. The study derives conditions under which large solar systems impose a higher marginal cost on the grid and examines the implication of different rate designs for cross-subsidy. Our findings suggest that location-varying rates remove all cross-subsidy effects except in the case where returns to scale in electricity production are low. In addition, location-varying rates lower the electricity bill of prosumers and consumers. Location-varying rates may better incentivize DER adoption in locations that minimize system-level costs.

Department(s)
Economics
Second Department
Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)
Keywords and Phrases
  • Rate design,
  • Location-varying rates,
  • Distributed energy resources,
  • Photovoltaics,
  • Cross-subsidy,
  • Prosumers
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 International Solar Energy Society (ISES), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
11-15-2020
Publication Date
15 Nov 2020
Citation Information
Mahelet Fikru and Casey I. Canfield. "A Generic Economic Framework for Electric Rate Design with Prosumers" Solar Energy Vol. 211 (2020) p. 1325 - 1334 ISSN: 0038-092X
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/casey-canfield/18/