Renewable Energy Model

Generation begins with installed AC capacity, hours in the year, a capacity factor and availability, then compounds a degradation rate so output declines year on year rather than linearly. Clipping losses and the inverter loading ratio adjust the usable energy.

• Revenue then splits into contracted PPA sales, a merchant tail once the PPA expires, and environmental attribute sales. The PPA formula takes net generation times contract price with optional escalation, while merchant revenue applies a wholesale price to uncontracted output.
• A capture-rate decline can erode merchant prices over time, reflecting solar cannibalisation. A P50/P75/P90 selector lets you haircut the central capacity factor for downside resource cases.

Operating costs are relatively fixed, led by O&M, land lease, insurance and asset management, all escalated for inflation. Because solar has near-zero variable cost, EBITDA is a large share of revenue.

• Depreciation is charged on construction cost including capitalised interest over a book life, separate from accelerated tax depreciation. Debt is sized to the lesser of a leverage cap and a DSCR-supportable amount, then amortised on a sculpted schedule targeting a minimum coverage ratio.
• Interest is computed on the opening balance. A stateful reserve account holds forward-looking debt-service coverage, and a maintenance reserve pre-funds inverter replacement so coverage does not collapse in that year.

Tax uses an NOL carry-forward, while a deferred tax rollforward captures book-versus-tax timing.

The model produces a full three-statement set: income statement, cash flow and balance sheet, along with a debt schedule and reserve walk.

• Returns include project IRR, equity IRR, NPV, LCOE, DSCR, MOIC and an interpolated equity payback.
• Cash flow separates operating, investing and financing activity, with distributions to equity gated by a lock-up DSCR so trapped cash builds in the SPV when coverage falls below the threshold.
• A checks sheet validates that the balance sheet balances, the debt balance reaches zero at maturity, cash stays non-negative, generation does not exceed theoretical maximum and margin checks pass within the contracted period.

Use this template to evaluate investment, lending or development decisions for a single utility-scale solar asset: it answers whether projected cash flows support the debt and return profile you require. The structure is direct ownership, so the sponsor takes the full investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation.

• Partnership-flip and tax-equity structures are deliberately out of scope and should use a separate template. Remaining simplifications include a single merchant price curve with no hourly shaping, no battery storage co-location and no decommissioning reserve.
• The public download is a values-only preview, not a live calculating workbook.