Solar PV Yield Assessment, Technology Selection & Solid Project Economics
(Room Jupiter 7)
02 Sep 15
11:00 AM
-
12:30 PM
The success of an individual renewable energy project, but equally the transition to a sustainable generation mix, is highly dependent on a thorough understanding of project economics in terms of, resource and performance, Capex, Opex. Short-sightedness and ignorance of economic inputs in the development phase leads to long term investment underperformance, loss of investor confidence and difficulty in refinancing.
Here we discuss the importance of a solid understanding of these factors and the link to successful investment in renewable, specifically solar photovoltaic (PV), projects.
Overall revenue from a PV project is dependent on the available solar resource, plant design and available incentives. Leaving aside incentives and the political sphere, we summarise the objectives of the various project stakeholders (i.e. developers and contractors) in their assessment of available resource and performance then tie these to the key considerations from an independent perspective.
Based on our experience of advising on multiple gigawatts of PV projects in Europe, Africa and across the globe, we discuss the intricacies and nuances of irradiation data sources, then outline the impact of plant design, equipment selection and procurement on both projected and actual project yields before examining in more detail the specific effect of key components including irradiation sensors, monitoring systems, modules and inverters.
Finally, we discuss the key technical inputs when modelling the financial performance of a PV project or portfolio to ensure realistic and appropriate cash flow assumptions.