CE Delft has developed a web application for the social costs and benefits of solar PV projects, commissioned by TKI Urban Energy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, RVO). The tool is now available online.
The methodology identifies the private and social costs and benefits of the large-scale deployment of solar power in the Netherlands. It also reveals which trade-offs are possible. Under social costs, we increase the private costs of the project initiator by estimating the social costs and reduce these by the social savings. The tool is intended to allow governments and investors to make better estimates of social costs and take these costs into account in spatial planning, such as the NRES. The application can be used to determine the standardised cost per kilowatt-hour provided by solar applications.