Comments on: SunEdison + Duke = Largest Solar PV Farm in U.S.

By: ars

ars — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:49:07 +0000

i think the estimate quoted (US$173M) is off—-that would put both the capital cost and the LCOE for the project way above what SunEd has already completed much smaller rooftop projects for.

It appears someone leaked some info somewhere and the number was misrepresented along the way—a veritable game of telephone. Perhaps it was referring to both the SunEd project and Duke rooftop initiative combined. If so, that would mean the Davidson project was at about $4.60/ watt (173-100/16) installed capex which is line with other larger US projects and makes sense due to the economies of scale gained……with the the ITC, D/E ration, etc thats a LCOE of just under $0.20 per kWh.

By: Regulators Slam Duke’s Solar Funding Plan

Regulators Slam Duke’s Solar Funding Plan — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:18:08 +0000

[...] SunEdison, and it led to an agreement for Duke to purchase the entire electricity output of a new PV farm to be owned and operated by SunEdison.) Duke argued that ownership would provide distinct benefits [...]

By: Regulators Slam Duke’s Solar Funding Plan « Earth2Tech

Regulators Slam Duke’s Solar Funding Plan « Earth2Tech — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:09:15 +0000

By: Duke Halves Solar Rooftop Plan to $50M « Earth2Tech

Duke Halves Solar Rooftop Plan to $50M « Earth2Tech — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:27:18 +0000

[...] credits (RECs) for future years. But Vote Solar pointed out that between this rooftop program and Duke’s power purchase agreement with Sun Edison, the utility will have more than enough RECs racked up in the first few years to satisfy the RPS [...]

By: SunPower Snags Massive Florida Solar Power Plant Deal « Earth2Tech

SunPower Snags Massive Florida Solar Power Plant Deal « Earth2Tech — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:28:07 +0000

[...] said will be “the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the U.S.” It will be slightly larger the 21.5-megawatt plant SunEdison and Duke Energy are building (and similarly claimed would be the largest in the country). But it [...]

By: FPL Bringing Big Solar to Sunshine State « Earth2Tech

FPL Bringing Big Solar to Sunshine State « Earth2Tech — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:21:24 +0000

[...] that the 25 megawatt plant will be the largest photovoltaic plant in the world, just eking out the 21.5 megawatt plant SunEdison and Duke Energy claimed would be the largest last month. But neither are nearly as large as OptiSolar’s [...]

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:07:44 +0000

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the installation will cost about $8/Watt ($173M/21.5MW).

Using NREL's estimator (PVWatts) and assuming $0.10 per AC kWh (probably optimistic for wholesale costs), the annual income would appear to be ~$3.4M/yr. With no interest at all, the payback is ~48 years or approximately twice the reasonable life of PV systems.

If they wanted a 15 year payback, could obtain 6% financing and could tolerate a 70%-of-income debt service limit, the maximum debt that could be satisfied is of order $25M, a far cry from the $173M stated. A 25yr payback at 3% only raises this debt ceiling to ~$40M. Even at 0% interest and 100% income towards debt, only ~$80M can be paid back over the 25yr system life.

So, just what shenanigans make this economically viable? Even the promised county investments seem to barely make a dent.

Am I missing something? Surely subsidies cannot make up the other $100M+...

By: sunedison

sunedison — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:50:40 +0000

[...] by SunEdison, the farm will be located in Davidson County, N.C., and, at 21.5 megawatts, is lihttp://earth2tech.com/2008/05/22/sunedison-duke-largest-solar-pv-farm-in-us/SunEdison gathers 161M in financing – Baltimore Business Journal:SunEdison, a Beltsville solar [...]

By: Solar Power Company Ponies Up $161 Million | EcoTech Daily

Solar Power Company Ponies Up $161 Million | EcoTech Daily — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:00:56 +0000

[...] Energy Provider SunEdison Raises $161 Million (CNN Money) SunEdison + Duke = Largest Solar PV Farm in U.S. (Earth2Tech) Stay up to date on green technology, gadgets & news by subscribing to EcoTech [...]

By: Jaineel Aga

Jaineel Aga — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:58:35 +0000

Hey ,

I need a list of the biggest solar installations in the US in the private sector. Any body has heads up on that information.

I have checked all of SunEdison's projects and a couple of wesbites showing the largest single PV installations but I need a more concrete list

Thanks

Jaineel

By: SunEdison Raises $161M for PV Farms « Earth2Tech

SunEdison Raises $161M for PV Farms « Earth2Tech — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:44:45 +0000

[...] Posted May 27th, 2008 at 9:44 am in Startups Following SunEdison’s announcement last week that it will build what it claims will be, at the time of construction, the largest photovoltaic fa…, the company now says it’s getting more cash to fuel its ambitious plans. The Beltsville, [...]

By: JP

JP — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:48:50 +0000

It´s awesome to see greater investments on solar energy.

By: Domenick

Domenick — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:40:08 +0000

Then there’s this 250 MW distributed installation that begins this year for $875 million.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/04/01/video-huge-solar-project-to-begin-this-year/

By: ericabiz

ericabiz — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:14:46 +0000

It would be awesome if you guys could add some off-the-cuff financial analysis to figure out how long this payback is -- based on current going energy rates. Is this really better financially than building a coal plant?

Believe me, I understand the smaller environmental impact...but does this make sense from a financial perspective? That's how you'll convince businesses to do this.

-Erica

By: Katie Fehrenbacher

Katie Fehrenbacher — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:20:00 +0000

Thanks Tyler, OptiSolar is planning a 550MW solar PV farm, which they are targeting to begin construction in 2010. We updated the story to reflect that.

By: Craig Rubens

Craig Rubens — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:46:04 +0000

@Tyler:

I think you might be mistaken. According to OptiSolar's project website they only have 90 MW spread across three projects planned.