Solar investment advisory

Solar energy glossary

Finance glossary:

Copenhagen Conference : UN Conference on Climate Change - from 7 to 18 December 2009. Preceded by preparatory meetings, such as the Bangkok meeting in September.
This conference outcome will replace the Kyoto protocol whose term is 2012. The Kyoto protocol implies 37 countries committed to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
The main challenge of Copenhagen is to integrate the United States and the main emerging countries into a global commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

Energy payback : time necessary to compensate for the energy expenditure used to manufacture a photovoltaic panel.

FIT : Feed-in Tariffs: guaranteed power purchase prices granted by some European Governments, generally for 10 or 20 years, to incentivize renewable energy.

Grenelle de l’environnement : Brain storming platform set up by the French Government in order to initiate concrete measures  in favor of green economy and sustainable development. In terms of energy consumption, national program targeting a level of at least 20% for renewable by 2020.

Grid parity : Production cost of solar power at par with the price of transmitted electricity.

Kyoto Agreements : International agreements which urge the signatory states to carry out efforts as regards reduction greenhouse gases, the objective is to stabilize then to reverse the trend as regards the impact on climate change.

LCOE : Levelised Cost of Electricity: ratio of total production costs (including investments) and expected power generation, discounted over the lifespan of the installation. LCOE usually takes into account the impact of tax credits (ITC - Investment Tax Credit). It is the approach used in the United States.

Lifespan of an installation : the solar panels are guaranteed by the manufacturers who usually guarantee a result of 90% of the initial output for a period of 10 years and of 80% for a period of 20 years. These levels are a minimum for the purchaser and obviously include a safety margin taken by the manufacturers. Actually, despite insufficient track record, some manufacturers recorded a lifespan of installation over 25 years.

Long lease : For the installation of a photovoltaic farm, a very long land lease contract is concluded, at least for the duration of subsidies. In France, typical long leases for PV projects are concluded for 20 years.

Solar energy multiple : Ratio of the solar energy collected at the design point to the amount of solar energy required to generate the rated turbine gross power. A solar multiple of 1.0 means that the solar field delivers exactly the amount of energy required to run the plant at its design output at the design point solar conditions. A larger solar multiple indicates a larger solar system. The design point is the reference set of conditions selected for designing the system. Solar multiples are commonly used when designing CSP towers.