Estimating the environmental footprint of a grid-connected 20 MWp photovoltaic system.

• Environmental footprint methodology is applied to a utility-scale solar energy plant. • A case study of a grid-connected 20 MWp photovoltaic system in Hungary is presented. • Impacts on climate, human health, ecosystem and natural resources is assessed. • The environmental footprint of electricity is reduced by 75% compared to the grid mix. • A simplified life-cycle model linked to plant design parameters is validated. Balance-of-system components represent a growing share of environmental impacts in photovoltaic utility-scale solar energy systems. There are, however, no effective methods to carry out screening type life-cycle assessment during the planning phase of the power plant to minimize these impacts. This paper uses the European Commission's novel product environmental footprint methodology to explore the life-cycle impacts of a case study in Hungary and applies two life-cycle models with different system boundaries and assumptions. The first model represents a full-fledged assessment with a detailed inventory, while the other, simplified model can be directly linked to the main plant design parameters. Our results show that: a) the production of photovoltaic modules account for around half of the total aggregated environmental impacts, b) compared to the Hungarian grid mix, the new power plant reduces the environmental footprint by 75%. It is also shown that the simplified model captures the overwhelming majority of impacts, thus, it is applicable during the eco-design of similar systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]