Feature Request: Enhanced Support for "Buy All, Sell All" Tariff Models

[Matias]

Dear PVsyst Team,

I am reaching out to propose an enhancement to PVsyst that would significantly benefit users engaged with photovoltaic (PV) systems in jurisdictions offering "Buy All, Sell All" tariff arrangements. In such models, where all generated electricity is sold to the grid and all electricity consumed is purchased from the grid, there's a growing trend. However, under the current software configurations, simulating these financial models in PVsyst can be challenging, especially regarding the calculation of financial outcomes.

At present, simulating a "Buy All, Sell All" scenario requires a manual and somewhat intricate process. This process involves generating the total energy output of the PV system, calculating the revenue from selling this energy, and then calculating the cost of purchasing energy from the grid for consumption.

This manual approach not only introduces a risk of errors but also detracts from the efficiency and precision of project evaluations. With this in mind, I suggest the following enhancements for future updates of PVsyst:

Dedicated "Buy All, Sell All" Tariff Model Configuration: Implementing a straightforward method to configure projects under a "Buy All, Sell All" model. This would allow users to separately input rates for selling and purchasing energy, automating the financial outcome calculations based on these rates.

Enhanced Financial Analysis for "Buy All, Sell All" Models: Although PVsyst currently provides tools for estimating energy production and consumption, expanding the financial analysis features to automatically calculate and compare the revenue from selling generated energy against the cost of energy consumed would greatly benefit users. This enhancement would simplify the assessment of a project's financial viability under "Buy All, Sell All" schemes.

Incorporating these suggested features would not only improve PVsyst's usability and functionality for a wider array of projects and regulatory frameworks but also ensure the software remains aligned with the solar energy sector's evolving tariff structures.

Thank you for considering my suggestion. I am confident that these enhancements would make PVsyst an even more indispensable tool for the PV community, enabling users to accurately simulate and assess the financial viability of their projects across different tariff models.

Best regards

[Hizir Apaydin]

Dear Matias,

We thank you for your suggestion and this detailed description. 

Currently, the user's need and load profile are defined only when self-consumption is applied (direct consumption from solar energy).

Implementing the proposed strategy would imply defining user's needs for electricity bought from grid in order to calculate his current non-solar bill. Even this implementation is interesting in a financial analysis approach, it's a bit outside the solar simulation perspective of PVsyst. However, we have taken note of your suggestion and, we will analyze the possibility and opportunity of implementing such strategy in PVsyst.    

Regards