7405ENG Renewable Energy Systems: Richmond Solar PV Project Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a proposed 5MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) system located near Richmond, Queensland, Australia. The primary objective is to determine the technical and financial feasibility of the project, including its annual electricity production, associated costs, and environmental impact. The analysis employs RETScreen International software to model the solar PV system, considering local weather data and site-specific conditions. The report details the energy model, cost analysis (including initial, annual, and periodic expenses), emission analysis (evaluating greenhouse gas reductions), and financial analysis (assessing the project's viability through metrics like NPV, IRR, and payback period). The project is projected to produce 8592 MWh annually, significantly reducing CO2 emissions. The cost of the project is estimated to be around $17,150,594. The financial analysis incorporates government incentives, debt financing, and tax considerations to provide a complete overview of the project's potential.

Running head: RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM
Renewable Energy System
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
The aim for the project is to determine the financial and the technical role of the grid
connection or the installation of the new 5MW grid which will be connected to a solar system
which is a photovoltaic system which will be located in Richmond Queensland. The weather
station reported nearest to the site was the Richmond weather station and the weather data is
applicable to the conditions and the proposed site for the project. The solar model is
evaluated with the help of the RETScreen@ the software has been used to evaluate the
electricity generation, costs and the environmental factors associated. The solar plant
proposed for the installation will have an annual capacity to produce 8592 mwh which will
also result in a reduction of around 5288t of CO2 of the annual GHG emissions which will be
a good factor. The cost for doing the project was determined to be around $17,150,594.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the Energy Generation........................................................................................3
Equipment’s utilized..............................................................................................................4
Inverters..................................................................................................................................5
Cost Analysis.............................................................................................................................5
Emission Analysis Review.........................................................................................................6
Financial Analysis......................................................................................................................7
Reference..................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The project taken for the analysis is located in the Richmond, Australia. The Town or the area
is located near the banks of the river. The project location is having a dry climate and the
location has a sunny weather too in the period April till September. There are other time
period like the month of October when the location receives a very dry and sunny climate.
The coordinate for the project is around 20.7 N latitude and the longitude of the location is
143.1E. The sunny weather and the favourable dry and sunny weather location are some of
the favourable location of the project. The use of RETScreen and software which is used for
forecasting and getting the viability for the efficiency in the energy and generation for the
same analysis was done. The RET screen software is a more than a technology analysis
platform which just forecasts the energy producing level but also takes into account certain
investment cash flows arising from the same after net of taxes. The financial viability and the
output is generated from the same is via the output of financial tools such as Net Present
Value, Internal Rate of Return and the Payback Period (Cardona, Chica, and Barragán, 2018).
Discussion
Analysis of the Energy Generation.
The main important feature of the project is the type of machinery or the technology used.
The location of the project is such which should provide the project which considers many
important aspects of the weather. The equipment’s should be set at fixed tilt where the array
of the panel should be adjusted accordingly to maximize the annual solar power from the
same (Colclough and Griffiths 2016).

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Figure1: Annual Amount of Electricity Generated
Equipment’s utilized
The use of the better and best silicon modules were selected which is the mono-crystalline
silicon module whose technological feature is 230-WHT the same will be used for our
project. The power capacity that will be needed for the project plant of 5MW plant and power
capacity of around 21740 units will be absorbed to support the same. The nominal operating
battery cell temperature is around 45 degree Celsius. The improvement in the efficiency that
will be generated from the same will be around 18.5%. The cost for the solar PV module is
around $360 per module for order that will be more than (Moya, Paredes and Kaparaju 2018)

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Figure 2: Capacity Factor of Plant
Inverters
The inverter which will be installed in the project will generate an efficiency of around 92%
and the capacity that will be generated from the same is around 250 kW are some of the
forecasted analysis for the inverters installed.
Figure 3: Inverters Capacity
Cost Analysis
The cost analysis for the same on the three major parts which is the primary or initial
expenses, the annual expenditure and the quarterly or the periodic expenses.
The evaluation for the power system module was based on the fact that the model will
include all the estimated costs and the same with all the respective load that will be required
for the power equipment and for the transmission lines used. The cost for the photovoltaic
equipment and the installation of the same. The cost for the photovoltaic equipment and the
charges or the amount of instalment are taken from the base product in the RETScreen (Pan
et al. 2017). The capacity for the same will be around 230 watts and the cost incurred for the
same will be around $399.50. The total amount of expenditure that will be incurred on the
photovoltaic system for the installed 5Megawatt project will be around 8.67 million dollars
(Stackhouse 2015). The total amount of expenditure that will be incurred for the power
system which will include the photovoltaic equipment, the construction of the roads and use
of the transmission lines and components and equipment’s such as the transformers, SCADA
and the technology for the monitoring of the overall operations in the plant) as evaluated the

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investment in the invertor will be around 12.29 million dollars. The model has incorporated
all of the above costs and the expenses that will be incurred on the same.
Figure 4: The installed cost of the plant expressed as $ per kWp of installed capacity
The transportation cost and other expenses for the transportation was also included in the
project evaluation as the equipment’s needs to be carried from the manufacturing area or the
origin to the ultimate use of the asset that is the site of the project. Brisbane will be the place
for manufacturing area and Richmond is the final destination and the all over distance
between the two places is around 1584km away. Heavy rigid trucks would be hired for the
same and the same will cost around $780 plus additional charges up to $70, which will get
completed in an total of around 10 days. This will cost the project at $8500.
Emission Analysis Review
The breakdown of the components of the sources used for the generation of the electricity has
a mix of around 59% will be from Coal, 36% will be from natural gasses and 1 % will be
from the biomass production. The efficiency that will be derived from the same will that be
off as 80.16% from the coal and natural gasses equally while 100% from hydro fuel and
23.3% from the biomass. Thus the electricity generation efficiency is more from the Hydro
fuel. There are certain abnormal costs which may arise while the transformation of the energy
from the origin site and the end user. The total transformation and distribution losses were

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broken down and evaluated to be around 7.3%. The use of traditional coal based system for
the generation of electricity had a greenhouse gas emission of around 4988.9 tone of CO2 and
the respective factor of emission was around 0.698Tco2/Mwh (Dwivedy et al. 2015). The use
of the solar energy to taken as an alternative way of generation of the electricity will reduce
both the emission of greenhouse gases and the factor for the same. The model calculated us
with the new emission of greenhouse gasses and the use of solar energy actually resulted in a
complete reduction of the previous emissions of the greenhouse gasses (Tian et al. 2016).
Figure 5: The avoided GHG emissions compared with the same electricity production
from the current electricity supply system
Financial Analysis
The financial analysis for the project was considered given the fact that the installed project
will have an overall life of about 25 years of life and that the inverters used will be replaced

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every year. The escalation in the proposed a base is assumed to be around 3% and the
inflation taken down is 2.8 while the discounting rate and factor was based on 9.5%. The
financial analysis and whether the project will create the wealth for the shareholders of the
company will be judged with the help of this ratio through the use of the NPV and IRR tools.
The incentive from the government was around $250,000 which was the incentive and the
primary contribution in the initial year (Vittorini and Cipollone 2016). The debt exposure for
the project will be around 50% i.e., the project will be financed with 50%debt to equity ratio
and the tenure for the same will be around 15 years of time and the same will be evaluated
and carried down at an annual rate of around 7.5%. The annual debt analysis and the effect on
the company financials with the exposure if the debt and the tax savings for the company
with the debt financing was evaluated using the model. The tax rate taken for the same was
around 30% and the interest payment will be around 0.97million annually. The depreciation
method taken is the straight line basis for the evaluation of the assets.
Figure 6: Annual Cash Flow
The annual income taken down is comprised of the earnings from the exported units of
electricity and rise in income via reduction in the Greenhouse Gasses. The evaluation done

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helped us evaluate and determine the amount and the rate of the electricity and the exported
energy is taken down from the energy model. The annual net reduction in the greenhouse
gasses will also result in the creation of the extra additional income. The project will help in
the increased capacity of electricity generation and the export for the same at a average rate
of around 2.5% will be the rising rate of electricity. The annual reduction in the greenhouse
gasses or the CO2 gasses which will be evaluated by the model. The reduction in the credit
rate will be assumed at a 30$/tCO2 which will be taken at the initial year before the start of
the operations The Reduction in the Greenhouse gasses will be taken as an assumption of
around reduction of 304/per tonne of CO2 gas in the initial year before the start of operations.
The use of solar energy as the way for generation of electricity will make sure that there is a
use of a clean and a safe way of producing energy. The credit duration and that of project is
same. The total amount of savings on an annual basis will be around 19.20 MN. While the
export income will be around 10 million.
The payback period calculated was around 25 years of time as shown the financial analysis
conducted helped us evaluate the payback period and it helped us determine in what amount
the project investment will be paid off in the due course of time.

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Figure 7: Financial Analysis and Viability of the Project
Conclusion
The project evaluation done and the financial analysis done helped us evaluate the viability of
the project. The site analysis along with the benefits of the Richmond dry and sunny weather
are some of the key benefits and the major push for the use and creation of an alternate
sources of energy which has ultimately led in the reduction of the greenhouse gasses. The
cost analysis done had taken into account key factors like the use of the photovoltaic
equipment’s, the construction of he road and the transportation cost and inverters were some
of the key costs involved in the analysis The financial analysis was also performed which
took key factor into analysis like the debt to equity ratio and the benefits of debt and the tax
savings from the same.

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Reference
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and Emission Analysis for Grid Connected PV Systems using RETSCREEN 4 Simulation
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