Energy and capacity values for distributed PV in PJM

The correlation between distributed PV generation and the ten year monthly and annual all time system peaks on PJM are quite remarkable. In the over 100 monthly and annual peak demands that have been set, the great majority remain during solar resource hours with significant contributions expected from PV resources. The authors believe that near term capacity and energy benefits of distributed PV generation will persist for decades before penetration rates in the continental US may significantly impact base load levels at minimum load times. The close proximity of distributed PV arrays to the loads they typically serve means a higher value can be placed on the electricity generated when line and transformer losses from the grid are considered. When considering the Locational Marginal Price (LMP) of energy at transmission delivery nodes on the PJM Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), the value of PV energy increases even more. due to its time of generation worth being significantly higher than average LMP. Objective financial analysis places the true value of distributed PV generation to the PJM system in recent years at $77 per MWh.