Simple Solar Farm Question

[maen]

We have at least Four 100 acre solar Farms either being developed or in the process of raising finance to develop in the surrounding and adjoining parishes. I have an idea of their construction cost but I would be interested to know their budgeted annual income from electricity sales.
Asking for a friend!

 

[Exfarmer]

We have at least Four 100 acre solar Farms either being developed or in the process of raising finance to develop in the surrounding and adjoining parishes. I have an idea of their construction cost but I would be interested to know their budgeted annual income from electricity sales.
Asking for a friend!

Annual production should be 25-30,000 Mwh at about £85 per Mwh roughly at present
So £2,125,000 - £2,550,000

 

[Grass And Grain]

Annual production should be 25-30,000 Mwh at about £85 per Mwh roughly at present
So £2,125,000 - £2,550,000

Is that for 1×100 acres?

And capital cost of panels approximately £250k/acre???

 

[Exfarmer]

Is that for 1×100 acres?

And capital cost of panels approximately £250k/acre???

A thousand panels an acre about £30-60,000 . 250 watt panels are, I was quoted last week, wholesale in large quantities around £30 each.
I guess the frames would be a similar price for each panels. Then you have cabling, labour and inverters on top. I would think they are getting install costs down near £150K / acre
Of course then you have planning and connection costs on top

 

[gmgmgm]

Thanks exfarmer. Is my maths right: for a 100 acre unit, costs would be (at best) £15m, plus planning/connection/surprises.
Then if the production/yield is £2.3m (roughly in the middle of your range), you'd be looking at about 15% annual yield (or paying back in about 7 years? (Ignoring any ongoing costs/maintenance etc!).

That seems pretty good. (Sadly we are in an AONB which has a presumption against solar farms!).

 

[Exfarmer]

Thanks exfarmer. Is my maths right: for a 100 acre unit, costs would be (at best) £15m, plus planning/connection/surprises.
Then if the production/yield is £2.3m (roughly in the middle of your range), you'd be looking at about 15% annual yield (or paying back in about 7 years? (Ignoring any ongoing costs/maintenance etc!).

That seems pretty good. (Sadly we are in an AONB which has a presumption against solar farms!).

it is the connection cost which is the big issue. that can be many millions apart from planning etc.
The figures I have seen look far closer to a return of 5-7% after the rent maintenance insurance etc.
Don't forget maintenance is far more than mowing around the panels. their will be annual maintenance of the inverters and all other electrical equipment to cover the warranties etc. This is because the Hedge funds that end up owning these arrays want a single package with no issues to them , just a question of paying the many regular bills as they come in and a regular income from the power sales.
They borrow all the money up front at possibly 3-4% ( not long ago this was in the order of .5% ) then take a regular income of 2-3%. May seem pathetic money to a farmer but when you have a thousand acres of panels and the investment is £150,000,000 which is entirely borrowed, the return to the fund is in the order of £1,500,000 and this will rise with inflation

 

[MrNoo]

Thanks exfarmer. Is my maths right: for a 100 acre unit, costs would be (at best) £15m, plus planning/connection/surprises.
Then if the production/yield is £2.3m (roughly in the middle of your range), you'd be looking at about 15% annual yield (or paying back in about 7 years? (Ignoring any ongoing costs/maintenance etc!).

That seems pretty good. (Sadly we are in an AONB which has a presumption against solar farms!).

I think most 100 ac sites would be a lot more than that, esp if any battery storage was included which seems to be the norm on many new sites now. I believe the one here 24Mw with 50Mw storage was about £45m but it does have tracking panels (which supposedly yield another 15-20%) You also have business rates to pay which can be quite chunky. I never managed to find out how much they paid here but they did mention it was more than the rent.
As said above connection cost can be many millions, had another Co interested in a 150ac block and they were quoted £25m for the connection 18km away as Ciren does not have anymore capacity, which made the project a no go.

 

[warksfarmer]

Build costs are roughly £1 mill / MW.
Elec returns vary obviously but £90k / MW.