Impact of Research and Development, Analysis, and Standardization on PV Project Financing Costs

Technical Report · Mon Apr 02 04:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1432188· OSTI ID:1432188

Feldman, David J. ^[1]; Margolis, Robert M. ^[1]; Jones-Albertus, Rebecca ^[2]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

The technical report discusses how R and D efforts focused on removing perceived risk from cash flows to investors have the potential to lower the cost of capital and increase the amount of leverage in a solar project. It also discusses how creating business efficiencies that allow financing transactions to occur more quickly with less effort can reduce the upfront costs associated with arranging financing for a solar project or group of projects. The paper then assesses the impact that these R and D activities might have on the volatility of PV asset cash flows and asset value, as well as the upfront costs of arranging a financial transaction. Finally, we insert these assumptions into financial models to analyze their impacts on the cost of capital for equity and debt investors, project leverage, and upfront financial transaction costs.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1432188
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--6A20-70939
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
CAPM
LCOE
PV
WACC
cost of capital
debt
equity
finance
leverage
research and development
risk
solar
transaction costs
volatility