Grading of solar photovoltaic electricity generating systems in indian context

The work presented seeks to assess the sustainability of different solar photovoltaic electricity generating systems based upon energy, environment and economics. The sustainability indicators evaluated for energy, environment and economics are electrical output, life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and Life cycle cost of electricity generated per kWh. The selected solar photovoltaic based electricity generation technologies for sustainability evaluation are amorphous, mono crystalline and polycrystalline. For solar photovoltaic systems most of the emissions are the result of electricity use during manufacturing. In these cases, an average grid mix for the region of manufacture is typically used to calculate energy use and emissions. Based upon these three indicators, a figure of merit (FM) has been proposed. Further, based upon this figure of merit sustainability of solar photo voltaic based electricity generation technologies has been estimated.