Feasibility study

In order to identify project development opportunities, it is important for developers to initially assess the project by a team of experts, who can thoroughly analyze various technical aspects in order to determine the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the solar project.

The analysis takes all project’s relevant factors into account—including economic, technical, legal, scheduling, partnership, and risk considerations to ascertain the likelihood of completing the project successfully.

Use of feasibility studies is needed to discern the pros and cons of undertaking a project before taking the investment decision.

Usually includes the following parts:

  • Site Assessment
  • Technology Assessment
  • Installed capacity.
  • Energy Production Assessment
  • Environmental Assessment
  • Cost Estimate
  • Partnership Assessment
  • Country / Market Assessment
  • Risk Assessment

Energy Yield Assessment

Calculation and analysis of the long-term power production of a solar system using PV modelling software packages.

The analysis is conducted by our team of engineers specialized in solar power plants design. This study also includes uncertainties related to the energy estimation (P50, P75, P90) and related solar and meteorological data inputs (TMY).

Main information included in our Energy Yield Assessments (EYA) is:

  • Solar resource assessment review and analysis of the typical meteorological year file, including GTI, GHI and other climate data.
  • Performance analysis method description.
  • Assumption book including inputs, system components, degradations, losses, and other hypotheses.
  • Plant configuration details including main equipment selection, layout parameters, shadows, etc.
  • Uncertainty of the results and variability of the long-term solar resource.
  • Performance Ratio, annual electricity generation estimation at the Electrical Delivery Point for the first year, PPA term and P50, P75 and P90 estimates.

Owner’s Engineer

Engineering services that broadly include providing assistance in EPC contractor selection, validation of designs and assurance of quality and performance of the projects. These services are of utmost importance in the development of utility-scale solar PV power plants in order to safeguard project developer’s investment.

Owner’s engineers independently evaluate various aspects of the project in order to help minimize the risks during the entire solar project lifecycle.

Complete revision of the engineering package developed by the EPC contractor lead by a dedicated project manager and supported by our experienced inhouse engineering team. We become part of our client’s engineering and project management teams by:

  • Attending all meetings with EPC.
  • Developing master engineering document list.
  • Controlling EPC deliverables quality.
  • Coordinating design review process on all disciplines (mechanical, civil, electrical, control and instrumentation).
  • Reviewing and approving the complete as-built package.
  • Revising equipment specifications, documents, and certification.
  • Checking the quality control application in the manufacturing process of the equipment.
  • Supporting factory acceptance tests.

Owner Technical Specification Development

Complete solar plant technical specification describing the EPC Contractor scope of work and minimum technical and functional requirements for the works to be executed by the EPC Contractor for the complete, optimal and safe operation of the power plant during the term of the PPA.

Owner’s technical specification includes considerations from the project documents, codes and standards and the grid code, as per the below table of contents:

 

  • Introduction: Site Description, Project Description, Interfaces
  • Scope of Work
  • Design Basis
  • Technical Requirements
  • Project Communication and Data Management

RFP Technical Due Diligences

Complete revision of the request for proposal (RFP) technical requirements for a public or private tender including site conditions and studies, solar resource, equipment technical requirements, track record and references, access to the site, interconnection facilities, grid requirements, etc. The technical due diligence report will include markups proposed to the PPA and other project documents, clarification requests and main highlights including opportunities and threads as well as risks.

The technical due diligence includes the review of the following documents:

  • Instructions to bidders (ITP)
  • Request for proposal
  • PPA and schedules
  • Site studies: geotechnical, topographic, flood risk, hydrological
  • Performance models: solar resource, yield / generation estimation
  • Configuration: layouts, SLDs, interconnection

Bid documentation preparation

According to the requirements of the instructions to bidders and request for proposal, we prepare the technical documentation necessary to present a complete and compliant bid, including:

  • Plant technical description
  • Drawings, SLDs and communication schemes
  • Plant performance
  • Equipment data sheets and certificates
  • Form sheets
  • OEMs and contractors’ letters
  • Implementation schedule

Technical due diligence (Lender technical advisor, LTA)

As lender technical advisor we perform a comprehensive risk assessment and documentary review in order to evaluate the project risk before signing a loan agreement.

Our experts estimate the construction budget and schedule from an independent perspective and check whether borrower’s assumptions are reasonable and include the proper level of contingencies.

The purpose of this Technical Due Diligence is to review, from a technical standpoint, including site conditions, technology and designs of the plant, solar resource and energy yield assessment, project participants, main agreements, and the financial model review. the project and highlight all the potential red flags that may arise during the design and construction phase.

Main parts of the due diligence would be:

  • Project description
  • Site assessment
  • Technology review
  • Design review
  • Solar resource assessment
  • Energy production estimation
  • Project agreements
  • Project participants
  • Financial Model review
  • Project Schedule review

Configuration optimization

Running different design scenarios in an iterative process in order to find the optimal techno commercial solution matching the target of our clients. Minimizing the total cost (CAPEX and OPEX) and maximizing the generation / energy throughput. Our experienced team will recommend several ways for the optimization of the plant based in latest technologies available.

Using our own simplified tool, we calculate different levels of levelized cost of electricity and storage in order to determine the best optimized configuration. Once the best scenario is determined, a proper financial model is used to calculate the real levelized costs.