Abstract
Providing firm/dispatchable solar generation round the clock will be a prerequisite for the complete transition to Renewable Energy Source (RES). This work shows how the evolution of photovoltaic (PV) generation from variable/unconstrained to firm/dispatchable can be driven by regulatory and market reforms and appropriate incentives. First, we showed that solar farms can split their generation into baseload round the clock and variable/intermittent depending on the cost of storage. Then, by dividing the spot market into a variable renewable energy market and a day-ahead firm energy market, we showed through energy simulations and cost-benefit analysis that reasonable incentives for firm PV generation could currently reduce the flexibility requirement induced by large solar farms by 20%, by 30% by 2030, reaching full dispatchability by 2050.