Economic performance of photovoltaic water pumping systems with business model innovation in China

Expansion by photovoltaic (PV) technologies in the renewable energy market requires exploring added value integrated with business model innovation. In recent years, a pilot trial of PV water pumping (PVWP) technologies for the conservation of grassland and farmland has been conducted in China. In this paper, we studied the added value of the PVWP technologies with an emphasis on the integration of the value proposition with the operation system and customer segmentation. Using the widely used existing PV business models (PV-roof) as a reference, we evaluated discounted cash flow (DCF) and net present value (NPV) under the scenarios of traditional PV roof, PVWP pilot, PVWP scale-up, and PVWP social network, where further added value via social network was included in the business model. The results show that the integrated PVWP system with social network products significantly improves the performance in areas such as the discounted payback period, internal rate of return (IRR), and return on investment (ROI). We conclude that scenario PVWP social network with business model innovation, can result in value add-ins, new sources of revenue, and market incentives. The paper also suggests that current policy incentives for PV industry are not efficient due to a limited source of revenue, and complex procedures of feed-in tariff verification.