A solar power company plans to invest in a 200 MW, PV type of system at...

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A solar power company plans to invest in a 200 MW, PV type of system at a sunny location. The site under consideration is located in Madera County in California. Use the figure provided for this problem. The company will minimize the system degradation such that it is about 0.50% per year by aggressive maintenance and repairs. The company expects that the system will be down for 20 days/year for maintenance or repair. The total initial costs of the system are expected to be $350,000 Million, and the average annual maintenance/repair costs are expected to be 5% of the initial costs. The company plans to invest 40% equity and finance 60% of the capital costs as debt at 10%/year. The company expects to get feed-in tariff of $0.15/kWhe for 20 years in Madera County, where this rate will increase by 6% each year. Suppose the interest rate (discount rate) is equal to 10% and the inflation rate is 1% each year, which will be used for the calculation of the present value factor. The rate for the calculation of CRF for the capital and debt payments is 10%/year. A. What is the payback period using Method 1 (9 points) B. What is the payback period using Method 2 (9 points) C. Suppose the homeowner gets a rebate of 1.25/W from the power company and a 20% federal income tax credit, what are the predicted payback periods using Method 1 and Method 2? (9 points) D. What is LCOE for the system? (5 points) A solar power company plans to invest in a 200 MW, PV type of system at a sunny location. The site under consideration is located in Madera County in California. Use the figure provided for this problem. The company will minimize the system degradation such that it is about 0.50% per year by aggressive maintenance and repairs. The company expects that the system will be down for 20 days/year for maintenance or repair. The total initial costs of the system are expected to be $350,000 Million, and the average annual maintenance/repair costs are expected to be 5% of the initial costs. The company plans to invest 40% equity and finance 60% of the capital costs as debt at 10%/year. The company expects to get feed-in tariff of $0.15/kWhe for 20 years in Madera County, where this rate will increase by 6% each year. Suppose the interest rate (discount rate) is equal to 10% and the inflation rate is 1% each year, which will be used for the calculation of the present value factor. The rate for the calculation of CRF for the capital and debt payments is 10%/year. A. What is the payback period using Method 1 (9 points) B. What is the payback period using Method 2 (9 points) C. Suppose the homeowner gets a rebate of 1.25/W from the power company and a 20% federal income tax credit, what are the predicted payback periods using Method 1 and Method 2? (9 points) D. What is LCOE for the system? (5 points)

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

A The payback period using Method 1 is 1059 years B The payback period using Method 2 is 1073 years C The predicted payback period using Method 1 is 9... View the full answer