Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
Deepak John
FASSA, RSA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
The economic success of a solar plant is measured by its contribution to net revenue growth of the investor. When assessing the feasibility of solar projects, investors make use of a variety of models to project what the expected solar production is and how this translates into saved costs. In addition, there may be industry incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies and grants. What happens in reality can differ considerably to the projection models. This deviation from expected can be caused by a number of environmental factors, such as solar radiation being lower than expected. However, deviation can also be caused by under performance of the solar plant because of poor maintenance, inefficiencies, bad design, lack of system monitoring. As these industries mature and investors understand the risks that are controllable in solar plants, the focus shifts from low capex to a low LCOE over the lifetime of the plant. The lifetime production and performance of the solar plant becomes more important for investors as they seek to enhance yield through owning solar assets. The main controllable risks are: Technology, product quality, design, in-depth monitoring, fast response to troubleshooting, cleaning panels regularly, grid blackouts, interest rates and currency exchange. There are good ways of mitigating against these risks through following rigorous, well-tested principles and partnering with the right installer. There are risks that are out of control. These are weather, client usage, grid-stability and force majeure events. These risks should be insured or absorbed to ensure the investor achieves their target returns.
Email: deepak@newsouthernenergy.com