Aim

To enable students to undertake detailed techno - economic evaluation of various renewable energy technologies and to equip them with knowledge and understanding of various methods of appraisal and/or evaluation of investments in renewable energy projects.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the relevance of financial feasibility evaluation of renewable energy technologies along with other feasibility requirements for their large scale dissemination.
• Understand, describe and apply time value of money considerations in feasibility evaluation of renewable energy projects.
• Discuss relative merits and limitations of different measures of financial/economic performance used for appraisal/evaluation of renewable energy investments.
• Determine the unit cost of electricity for renewable energy based electricity generation projects.
• Use software for financial evaluation of renewable energy technologies
• Analyze and explain the effect of different modalities of financing on the unit cost of electricity delivered and also on the financial attractiveness of investments in renewable energy projects.

Content

• Brief overview of important characteristics of  renewable energy technologies and their implications for financial/economic viability
• Feasibility requirements for large scale dissemination of renewable energy technologies  - resource availability, technological appropriateness, energetic feasibility, socio-cultural acceptability, environmental sustainability, institutional preparedness and financial viability
• Economic considerations in designing renewable energy technologies
• Identification and quantification of the ‘Costs’ and ‘Benefits’ of renewable energy projects
• Time value of money, discount rate and corresponding formulae
• Measures of financial/economic performance
• Approaches for considering uncertainty in appraisal/evaluation of renewable energy projects
• Development of techno-economic models for financial evaluation of renewable energy technologies
• Learning effect, experience curves, technology diffusion models and estimation of future cost of renewable energy technologies
• Incentives (Feed-in-Tariffs, Renewable Purchase Obligation, Tax credits, Carbon dioxide emissions mitigation benefits etc.) and  financial viability of renewable energy technologies
• Economics of decentralized power generation based on renewable energy sources
• Effect of modalities of financing on the financial viability of renewable energy projects
• Software for techno-economic evaluation of renewable energy based power generation(such as RETScreen, HOMER, System Advisor Model)
• Tariff fixation of renewable energy based electricity
• Issues in social cost-benefit analysis of renewable energy projects
• Case studies