A dispatch-aware framework for resource-efficient distributed electrification: A case study of photovoltaic-battery streetlights

The rapid deployment of distributed electrification infrastructure requires assessment approaches that jointly consider operational carbon benefits, life-cycle environmental burdens, and public investment. Using photovoltaic (PV)-battery streetlights as a representative municipal application, this study develops a dispatch-aware framework integrating time-resolved PV-battery dispatch, regional load-side carbon accounting, life-cycle assessment, and public-cost evaluation. Using the observed 2024 operating year as a repeated benchmark over a nominal 20-year service life, the representative retrofit achieves an attributional operational emission reduction of 4.58 tCO₂e and retains 3.56 tCO₂e of net life-cycle abatement per streetlight. Within the modeled study set of 22 municipalities, operational emission reduction is more strongly associated with regional grid‑carbon intensity than with annual mean solar resource, with the contrast amplified by the outlying-island regions. Simplified national-average assumptions shift municipal rankings by up to 20 positions. Static 2030 and 2050 grid‑carbon stress tests retain reference dispatch and hardware over the same horizon, without forecasting grid evolution or future equipment life cycles. The results demonstrate that the environmental value of this PV–battery streetlight retrofit depends on both technology performance and the carbon intensity assigned to reduced grid purchases. The framework supports municipal screening under a common observed-year benchmark.