Solar Plus: A Review of the End-User Economics of Solar PV Integration with Storage and Load Control in Residential Buildings

Batteries and load control devices can increase the value of distributed solar photovoltaics (PV) from multiple perspectives—end-user, utility, and social. This review paper summarizes the end-user economics of battery and load control technologies that increase the value of PV by controlling and temporally shifting PV output, an approach referred to as “solar plus.” Solar plus can increase on-site PV use. The literature shows that these values justify the incremental costs of solar plus devices for a wide variety of technologies, geographies, and customer load profiles, especially for customers in three rate structure contexts: where PV is sold to the grid at a lower value than the customer's retail rate, in time-of-use rates where peak periods do not coincide with PV output, and in demand charge rates where load peaks do not coincide with PV output. Rate structure and policy reform may be necessary to ensure that increasing solar plus deployment provides both end-user and system-level benefits.