8-3-1 Assessing the Regional Economic Impact of Installing Renewable Energy

Abstract

In order to establish close relations between distributed energy system and regional economic development by using renewable energy, public participation and local production for local consumption in electricity play a vital role. Therefore, this study aimed to assess regional economic impacts of community-based renewable energy development, particularly for a large scale PV system, and electricity use locally. Three impacts have been considered in this study, (1) profit from selling electricity, (2) induced value added by PV system installation, and (3) additional cost for residents due to local electricity price higher than general one. In addition, four scenarios have been assumed and evaluated for local electricity price. The result shows that, in any cases, installation of PV system provides positive effect to regional economy with the public participation.