Technical, economical and social assessment of photovoltaics in the frame of the net-metering law for the Province of Salta, Argentina

Central and Northern Argentinean regions possess a high potential for the generation of solar energy. The realization of this potential is an alternative to alleviate the strong dependence on imports of fossil energy and to reduce the CO2 emissions of the country. However, the adoption of photovoltaics (PV) is still in an incipient state. It is undermined by a context of heavily subsidized electricity prices, high equipment and installation costs and a lack of information, training and experience in handling PV technology. This paper presents a techno-economical assessment of the application of the recently enacted net-metering law for promoting renewable energies (RE) in the Province of Salta (Northwest Argentina) for the case of PV. The assessment shows under which conditions and for which types of consumers it is profitable to adopt PV in the context of the law. This analysis is supported by a participatory planning approach as a study of stakeholders' attitudes towards RE, intentions to adopt PV and their knowledge about the law. The results of this study and the economical analysis serve to provide recommendations aimed at increasing the level of PV adoption in the province.