Analyzing Profitability and Discount Rates for Solar PV Plants. A Spanish Case

Guaita-Pradas, Inmaculada; Blasco-Ruiz, Ana

doi:10.3390/su12083157

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…To elucidate the profitability associated to the foregoing IRRs, they were confronted with the private investor expected remuneration or annual cost of equity (r e ). According to Guaita-Pradas and Blasco-Ruiz [52], the cost of equity can be estimated through the capital asset pricing model, (Equation 2):…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

et al. 2021

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Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy is positioned to play a major role in the electricity generation mix of Mediterranean countries. Nonetheless, substantial increase in ground-mounted PV installed capacity could lead to competition with the agricultural use of land. A way to avert the peril is the electricity-food dual use of land or agro-photovoltaics (APV). Here, the profitability of a hypothetical APV system deployed on irrigated arable lands of southwestern Spain is analyzed. The basic generator design, comprised of fixed-tilt opaque monofacial PV modules on a 5 m ground-clearance substructure, featured 555.5 kWp/ha. Two APV shed orientations, due south and due southwest, were compared. Two 4-year annual-crop rotations, cultivated beneath the heightened PV modules and with each rotation spanning 24 ha, were studied. One crop rotation was headed by early potato, while the other was headed by processing tomato. All 9 crops involved fulfilled the two-fold condition of being usually cultivated in the area and compatible with APV shed intermitent shading. Crop revenues under the partial shading of PV modules were derived from official average yields in the area, through the use of two alternative sets of coefficients generated for low and high crop-yield shade-induced penalty. Likewise, two irrigation water sources, surface and underground, were compared. Crop total production costs, PV system investment and operating costs and revenues from the sale of electricity, were calculated. The internal rates of return (IRRs) obtained ranged from a minimum of 3.8% for the combination of southwest orientation, early-potato rotation, groundwater and high shade-induced crop-yield penalty, to a maximum of 5.6% for the combination of south orientation, processing-tomato rotation, surface water and low shade-induced crop-yield penalty.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

et al. 2021

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“…This section describes the common tecniques used for assessing the potential financial performance of a photovoltaic installation [23][24][25]. In particular, the parameters usually taken into account for technical and economic evaluation of PV installation and, in general, for energy production facilities [25], are the following:…”

Section: Financial and Profitability Evaluation Techniques For Photovoltaic Installationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utility Scale Ground Mounted Photovoltaic Plants with Gable Structure and Inverter Oversizing for Land-Use Optimization

Cossu¹,

Baccoli

Ghiani

2021

Energies

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The paper proposes an effective layout for ground-mounted photovoltaic systems with a gable structure and inverter oversizing, which allows an optimized use of the land and, at the same time, guarantees a valuable return on investment. A case study is presented to show the technical, economic, and environmental advantages compared with conventional “fixed-tilt” and “sun-tracking” ground-mounted photovoltaic installations. The main advantage of this solution is that it maximizes the energy produced per unit of land area used; but, also considering the economic metrics, the net present value of the proposed PV arrangement solution results in a greater annual volume of energy produced and therefore of net revenues and cash flows, and greater than the compared conventional solution with modules exposed in an optimal fixed position or which make use of sun-tracking systems.

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“…Lifespans of 20 years for the panels, 5 years for the cooker and PMW charge controller, and 4 years for the battery were considered. The analysis was performed for 20 years using a discount rate of 5% [11,49], an inflation rate of 3% [50], and considering two staple meals per person and day. Two estimations of the LCOC were made: first, a point estimation assuming a demand coverage of 100%, and, second, a spatial estimation taking into account the real demand coverage in each region and the PV module degradation, with an initial degradation of 2.5% plus an annual degradation rate of 0.6%/year.…”

Section: Economic Cost Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar E-Cooking with Low-Power Solar Home Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2021

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The e-cooking feasibility was evaluated for two of the main staple foods across rural Sub-Saharan Africa (rice and maize porridge) considering basic solar home systems (SHS) of 100–150 W and using inexpensive market available low-power DC cooking devices (rice cooker and slow cooker). The coverage of e-cooking necessities was spatially evaluated for the African continent considering households of two, five, and eight people. While households of two people were able to be covered >95% of the days, the increase in e-cooking necessities implied that only larger PV generators (150 W) located in high irradiation sites (>2400 kWh/m2/year) were able to fulfill e-cooking, even in scenarios of households of five and eight people. Furthermore, the economic cost and the greenhouse gases emission factor (GHG) of e-cooking via small SHS were evaluated and benchmarked against traditional technologies with wood and charcoal considering three-stone and improved stoves and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookers. The GHG for e-cooking was 0.027–0.052 kgCO2eq./kg·meal, which was strikingly lower than the other technologies (0.502–2.42 kgCO2eq./kg·meal). The e-cooking cost was in the range of EUR 0.022–0.078 person/day, which was clearly lower than LPG and within the range of the cost of cooking with wood and charcoal (EUR 0.02–0.48 person/day). The results provided a novel insight regarding market available technologies with a potential of changing cooking conditions in this region.

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Analyzing Profitability and Discount Rates for Solar PV Plants. A Spanish Case

Cited by 17 publications

References 18 publications

Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

Utility Scale Ground Mounted Photovoltaic Plants with Gable Structure and Inverter Oversizing for Land-Use Optimization

Solar E-Cooking with Low-Power Solar Home Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa

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