How should East Light Partners, an early mover in New York State's growing clean energy market, calculate the financial feasibility of a proposed community solar project situated in Hudson, New York?
How should East Light Partners, an early mover in New York State's growing clean energy market, calculate the financial feasibility of a proposed community solar project situated in Hudson, New York?
East Light Partners, a renewable energy development company focusing on opportunities for utility-scale and community solar projects in the northeastern United States, was considering the development of ELP Greenport Solar, a community solar project in Hudson, New York. This case provides students with information on history of the solar energy movement, data on the falling costs for solar, the importance of government incentives, and the challenging issue of energy storage whereby energy generated by solar during the day can be stored for later use. Students will be tasked to build a model to determine the financial feasibility of this project based on the amount of energy ELP Greenport Solar could generate, capital costs, project financing, and New York State's complicated financial incentive program. In building this model, students will analyze both how valuable the ELP Greenport Solar project would be and whether incorporating a storage component would make it more valuable.