In many countries, especially those that produce petrol, electricity consumption is often subsidized. This policy leads to very low electricity costs and precludes the widespread use of solar water heaters, which have proven to be economically viable and are extensively utilized in other countries. Herein, we propose a new demand-side planning methodology to deal with such cases and perform an experimental finding–based economic assessment to study the feasibility of reducing subsidies in return for providing brand new solar water heaters to consumers. Specifically, solar water heaters are proposed to be supplied and installed free of charge as part of a demand-side management program in the Erbil province (Kurdistan region, Iraq). Assuming a duration of ten years, we show that the proposed project has a net present value of approximately US$776.6 million and requires an investment of US$90 million, further demonstrating that the successful launch of this project should dramatically reduce the winter peak load of 54 MW.

在许多国家，特别是那些生产汽油的国家，通常会补贴用电量。这项政策导致电力成本非常低，并且妨碍了太阳能热水器的广泛使用，事实证明这种热水器在经济上可行，并在其他国家得到了广泛使用。在此，我们提出了一种新的需求方计划方法来应对此类情况，并进行基于实验结果的经济评估，以研究减少补贴以向消费者提供全新的太阳能热水器的可行性。具体地说，提议将太阳能热水器免费提供和安装，作为埃尔比勒省（伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区）的需求方管理计划的一部分。假设持续时间为十年，我们将显示拟议项目的净现值约为776美元。