Value chain · CLM-1309
In plain terms
A fair energy-return comparison of SBSP with ground solar counts the same things for both: the energy to build, run and scrap each, including the supply chain, measured at the same point, power into the grid. Storage and round-the-clock supply are not credited to any one technology under these 2016 rules for solar power.
The claim as recorded
For comparing electricity technologies the guidelines recommend an intermediate boundary: direct plus supply-chain energy investments, all in primary energy units, computed with the CED method and one consistent LCI database. They advise against a direct-only boundary and do not follow wider boundaries that convert monetary inputs into energy. In comparative studies they make it mandatory to state the energy carrier each EROI applies to (for example electricity at the plant gate or at the point of use) and forbid comparing EROIs for different carriers, even side by side; such comparisons speak only to the short-term use of available energy carriers. Storage belongs inside the boundary only when the goal is the minimum EROI a society needs, dispatchability is to be handled at grid-mix level rather than per technology, the functional unit is 1 MJ (or 1 kWh) of AC electricity delivered to the grid, and the minimum EROI a society needs is described as unsettled.
Evidence behind this: T3: an IEA-PVPS Task 12 methodology guideline with named authors. It recommends and does not mandate; not the normative-instrument (T1) case, as ruled for SRC-187 on 2026-09-11.
Scope and limits
The guidelines are written for PV; applying them to an SBSP-versus-PV comparison is this register's inference. It is also our inference, not the document's, that an SBSP firmness or baseload advantage falls outside EROI under these rules (the document places dispatchability at grid level, PDF p.26). That the 3:1 threshold in CLM-0316 sits under goal category 3 rather than level 2 is our reading of CLM-0316's description, not a statement in SRC-646. The guidelines' 2021 second edition (IEA-PVPS T12-20:2021) has not been read.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.28: level 1 (direct inputs only): "Adopting this narrowest approach is therefore not recommended"; level 2 (direct and indirect, primary energy units, CED method, coherent LCI data) recommended for PV and for all comparisons of electricity technologies (paraphrase). PDF p.29: for level 3 (energy-to-money ratios, hybrid input-output), "These approaches are not followed in this subtask"; stating the boundary is mandatory (paraphrase). PDF p.27: the boundary sets which carrier is the output, from well head to electricity at the point of use (paraphrase); in comparative studies, mandatory to state the carrier and to refrain from "comparing EROI results that apply to different energy carriers"; such comparisons are short term only (paraphrase). PDF p.25: goal category 1 (one system) is not suited to cross-technology comparison (paraphrase). PDF p.26: storage inclusion "only justified under goal category (3)", storage to be addressed at grid-mix level (paraphrase); stating the goal is mandatory (paraphrase); functional unit as stated; footnote 6: the minimum EROI for a sufficient societal return is "still the object of speculation". PDF p.15: extended-boundary methods are disputed and the minimum EROI for a modern society is speculative (paraphrase).
Basis: system boundary levels 1 to 3; functional unit 1 MJ or 1 kWh of AC electricity delivered to the grid
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-021 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1309
CLM-1309, Energy Aperture, as of 2016-01.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-646
- CLM-0316In 2009 three researchers guessed that, once the energy to deliver and use it is counted, an oil-based fuel must return at least about 3...CLM-1307An "energy return" figure for solar power can be stated in two ways, counting the electricity itself or counting the fuel a power station...CLM-1308"Energy payback time" and "energy return" are two views of one calculation and can be converted only when the lifetime and counting method...CLM-1310The 2016 guidelines recommend default lifetime, wear-out and performance numbers for a ground solar energy-return study, and list 16 facts...