Software tool for the assessment of Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of PV systems




Description
Levelized Cost Of Electricity (or Energy, known as LCOE, measured in €/kWh or USD/kWh) represents one of the key parameters used to make fair comparison of different technologies (e.g., renewable – wind, solar, ocean, etc. and conventional – natural gas, nuclear, coal, etc.), all of them showing different sizes, lifetimes, risks, capacities.
LCOE includes all the costs (CAPEX and OPEX) and profit margins of the whole value chain including manufacturing, installation, project development, O&M, inverter replacement, dismantling, etc.
The LCOE value is considered as one of the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) to measure the profitability and success of a PV installation, and it’s very useful to analyse the impact of one (or several simultaneous) change in some of the parameters (costs, efficiencies, extension of lifetime, change in radiation or temperature conditions…). At research level, it is commonly used to evaluate the impact of an specific innovation introduced in any of the elements/components of the PV system.
The inclusion of the climatic information (change in radiation and temperature conditions) in the assessment should consider, not only variability based on historical climatic conditions, but also long-term changes (projections) during the whole lifetime of the installation. These future changes in climatic conditions could lead to malfunctioning of the system and higher costs than initially expected.
TECNALIA is offering this SW tool that runs in a server, open to SESA as part of the SESA toolbox package. The tool is useful to evaluate PV systems, the effect of innovations in PV systems, and the effect of climatic change in the financial and energy conditions of PV systems.

https://www.mypv-lcoe-prosesa.energy.tecnalia.dev/
User guidelines for “MYPV LCOE” tool (PV design support tool) is available in the download folder. This document provides a description of the tool objective and functionalities, as well as its applicability, and guides the end user in its use.