A solar power company plans to invest in a 2 MW_p PV system at a sunny location. Two sites are under Investigation:
Alameda County in California and Los Angeles in California. The company will minimize the system degradation to less than 0.25%/year by aggressive maintenance and repairs.
The company expects that the system will be down for 10 days/year for maintenance or repair.
The total initial costs of the system are expected to be $2.5 M, and the average annual maintenance/repair costs are expected to be 5% of the initial costs. The company plans to Invest 30% equity and finance 70% of the capital costs as debt at 6%/year.
The company expects to get feed-in tariff of $0.25/kWh_e for 20 years In Alameda County and $0.45/kWh_e for 20 years in Los Angeles.
Assume the panels will degrade by 0.20% per year.
What is the MWh//day for both counties? Use the resource found at:
What is the LCOE for the system In Alameda and in Los Angeles?
What is the IRR for the system in Alameda and Los Angeles?
Based on your analyses in 'a' - 'c' where should the company place the solar site, in Alameda or Los Angeles?