Delayed PV Deployment Negates CO2 Benefits of Ultra-Low Carbon PV Modules

An alliance of photovoltaic manufacturers is creating a certification standard to differentiate modules containing high (~10 g CO2 eq./kWh) or low (~5 g CO2 eq./kWh) embodied CO2. If new standards lead to project installation delays, this can pose serious threats for achieving CO2 avoidance targets. We calculate CO2 emission burdens of delaying coal and combined cycle gas (CCG) replacements. These show delays of < 3 months (coal) and <6 months (CCG) completely negate CO2 benefits of replacing “high” carbon PV with “low” carbon PV. This demonstrates the urgency of ensuring new standards do not delay PV deployments in any substantial way.