The Cost of Mitigating Short-term PV Output Variability

We approach the issue of short-term PV output intermittency from a management standpoint by determining the cost of actively mitigating it using “shock-absorbing” short-term energy buffers. Using a case study in Central California as experimental support, we determine this cost of as a function of (1) the amount of variability mitigation; (2) the considered variability time scale, (3) the PV resource's geographical footprint, and (4) the availability of accurate solar forecasts. We show that, in a plausible operational context, the cost of mitigating variability across time scales ranging from one minute to a couple of hours could be kept below 25-35 cents per installed PV kW.