Solarnomics: Setting Up And Managing A Profitable Solar Business

Description

Solar power has come of age. Not only has it become one of the key alternatives to fossil fuels, it can now be deployed in a way that makes a viable business with a financial profit. This book shows industry professionals and students how to do just that. Solarnomics describes the economics of building and operating a solar power plant today and provides a window into a future in which several technologies collaborate, and in which all participants in the electricity grid become smarter at scheduling both the supply and demand for electric power to give humanity a future that is sustainable, both environmentally and economically. The book shows how to estimate costs and revenues, how to tweak the design of a project to improve profitability, how to calculate return on investment, how to assess and deal with risk, how to raise capital, how to combine solar with batteries to make a hybrid microgrid, and how to be prepared for future developments in the evolving smart electricity grid. Solarnomics will enable professionals in the solar industry to assess the potential profitability of a proposed solar project, and it will enable students to add an extra dimension to their understanding of sustainability. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Meet the Author Preface Glossary and Acronyms Part 1 Deploying Solar: Costs and Revenues 1 Utility-Scale: Large Solar • Introduction • Costs ❍ Tracking Systems ❍ Capital Costs ❍ Operations and Maintenance Costs ❍ Summary • Revenues ❍ Capacity Factor ❍ Wholesale Electricity Market ❍ Selling to the Electricity Grid Using Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) ❍ Corporate PPAs ❍ Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 2 Behind-the-Meter, Commercial and Industrial: Medium-Sized Solar • Introduction • Costs ❍ Capital Costs ❍ Operations and Maintenance Costs ❍ Summary • Savings ❍ Net-Metering ❍ Demand Charges ❍ System Peak Charges ❍ Maximizing Savings ❍ Carbon Reductions ❍ Intangible Benefits • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 3 Behind-the-Meter, Small Business and Residential: Small Solar • Introduction • Costs ❍ Capital Costs ❍ Operations and Maintenance Costs • Savings • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 4 Off-grid: Small to Large Solar • Introduction • Remote Industrial Operations ❍ Mining ❍ Mobile Network Base Stations • Remote Communities and Small Islands ❍ Northern Canada ❍ Saudi Arabia ❍ Small Islands • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Processes Part 2 Solar Profitability 5 Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return • Introduction • Net Present Value (NPV) • Internal Rate of Return (IRR) ❍ Examples of Internal Rate of Return • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 6 Levelized Cost of Electricity • Introduction • What LCOE is for • How to Calculate LCOE ❍ Relationship between LCOE and IRR • Examples of LCOE • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 7 Solar Finance • Introduction • Securitization • Developers ❍ Bundling Power Purchase Agreements into a Tradable Security ❍ Bundling Loan Agreements into a Tradable Security • YieldCos • Developer – YieldCo Interaction • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 8 Managing Risk • Introduction • International Standards • Planning • Development • Operations and Maintenance ❍ Risk of Increased Costs ❍ Risk of Reduced Revenues ❍ Counterparty Risk • Impact on Internal Rate of Return and Levelized Cost of Electricity • Summary • Takeaways ❍ Planning ❍ Development ❍ Operations and Maintenance ❍ Quantifiable Risk • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process Part 3 Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Solar Buck 9 Storage: Improving Solar Profitability • Introduction • Storage Options ❍ Pumped Hydro ❍ Batteries ❍ Supercapacitors ❍ Flywheels ❍ Compressed Air ❍ Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) also known as Solar Thermal Power ❍ Hydrogen • Benefits of Storage ❍ Behind-the-Meter Applications ❍ Front-of-the-Meter Applications • Summary • Takeaways ❍ Storage Options and Their Characteristics ❍ Applications of Storage That Improve the Profitability of a Solar Project • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 10 Profitability of Solar Microgrids and Hybrids • Introduction • Reliability • Intermittency ❍ Short Term ❍ Medium Term ❍ Long Term • Optimizing Internal Rate of Return for Utility-Scale Microgrids ❍ Wholesale Market ❍ Power Purchase Agreement • Optimizing Internal Rate of Return for Behind-the-Meter Microgrids ❍ ToU and Demand Charges ❍ System Peak Charges • Minimizing Levelized Cost of Electricity for Off-Grid Microgrids • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 11 Extra Revenue from Grid-Balancing Services • Introduction • Electricity Market (also known as Wholesale Electricity Market) • Grid-Services Market (also known as Ancillary Services Market, Balancing Services Market and Operating Reserve Market) • Capacity Market • Trends in Markets • Frequency Sensing and Regulation • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process ❍ Grid-Services Market ❍ Frequency Sensing and Regulation Part 4 Preparing for Future Solar Opportunities 12 Participative/Transactive Electricity Markets • Introduction • ReFLEX (Renewable Energy Flexibility), in the Orkney Islands • Trading Flexibility in Cornwall • The Port of Amsterdam, Shared Energy Platform • Trends in Participative Markets ❍ Generic Software ❍ Solar Industry Involvement ❍ Grid Management • Summary • Takeaways ❍ Overall ❍ Market Participants ❍ Market Organization ❍ Benefits to Solar Industry • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 13 Emerging Solar Technologies • Introduction • Bifacial Solar • Floating Solar (Float-o-Voltaics) • Concentrating Photovoltaics • Thin-Film Photovoltaics ❍ Cadmium Telluride ❍ Perovskites ❍ Organics ❍ Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process 14 Emerging Solar Applications • Introduction • Hydrogen ❍ Making Hydrogen ❍ Transporting Hydrogen ❍ Using Hydrogen in Industry ❍ Using Hydrogen for Transport and Space Heating ❍ Using Hydrogen as a Buffer ❍ Trends in Green Hydrogen ❍ Impact of Hydrogen on Solar Economics • Building Integrated Photovoltaics • Agriculture Integrated Photovoltaics – Agrivoltaics ❍ Field Agriculture ❍ Greenhouses • Avoiding the Electric Utility Death Spiral • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process ❍ Hydrogen ❍ BIPV ❍ Agrivoltaics 15 Profitability Analysis for Emerging Solar Technologies • Introduction ❍ Perovskite/Silicon Tandems • Microtracked Concentrating Photovoltaics • Summary • Takeaways • Probe Deeper: The Why? • Process ❍ Perovskite/Silicon Tandem ❍ mCPV Epilogue Geographical Index Comprehensive Index