Abstract
At present, a worldwide paradigm shift has become apparent, with more and more consumers consuming the energy generated by renewable energy sources (RES) systems, such as wind or photovoltaic (PV) energy, sometimes benefiting from appropriate incentives by individual governments. Consequently, it is necessary to carry out technical−economic assessments to understand the evolution of the viability of RES investments. Within the framework of an intelligent network control environment, the smart grid (SG) concept is associated with this model, and is an important tool in the management of energy distribution networks. This article aims to make a further contribution to this issue by analyzing the economic feasibility of investing in residential consumers, considering different RES configurations. Scenarios covered in this study include: “inject all on the low voltage network/consume all on the low voltage network”, self-consumption, net-metering, and storage systems. The economic study results in this article show that self-consumption with and without the injection of excess electricity into the grid is quite attractive. The bi-hourly tariff was found to be more profitable than other tariffs. Variable tariffs (bi or tri-hourly) are more profitable than fixed tariffs. It is also concluded that investment in storage systems is not yet an economically viable solution due to the high price of energy storage.