Segmentación de Clientes Residenciales con Fines de Autoabastecimiento Fotovoltaico Mediante Índices de Rentabilidad en Ecuador

The use of conventional sources in electricity production is causing environmental impacts that will be significant shortly due to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, governments and regulatory bodies of the countries are willing to make the energy transition and opt for renewable technologies, which minimize emissions of these gasses. In the coming years in Ecuador, the installation of distributed generation systems for self-supply synchronized with the distribution network is planned under the Ecuadorian regulatory framework. This manuscript aims to segment regulated consumers in the residential sector to distinguish possible safe candidates to make investments in distributed generation systems. For this purpose, a profitability analysis model is assumed that calculates the Internal Rate of Return and Benefit-Cost Ratio indices, considering: 1) the user's energy consumption categories, 2) the regulated cost of energy, 3) projected production, and 4) tax incentives, for six scenarios in the short and medium term. Numerical results of the proposed system model demonstrate that users with high consumption categories have the best profitability indexes, and users with low consumption categories reveal unfavorable indexes. This fact allows segmenting the market and providing alternatives at the public policy level to ensure investments in these systems.