Sunulator User Guide Sunulator User Guide
Contents
1. e Even if the site is importing no electricity a fixed charge will be applied e The fixed monthly charge is intended as an alternative to the daily If you enter both daily and monthly they will both be applied and have a cumulative effect So only do this if you have both monthly and daily charges e Some commercial tariffs state the fixed costs as several components you will need to add them together for a total monthly and or daily cost e You might need to convert some annual or quarterly charges into monthly values too e Energy charge per kWh is multiplied by the consumption in kWh to give the energy cost Page 12 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet covers tariffs where the energy charge per kWh varies throughout the day eg e Time of Use ToU e Peak Offpeak e Flexible pricing It also covers tariffs that have a block structure eg inclining block The fixed charges section is equivalent to the one for flat rate tariffs please see above The Demand based daily charge is only relevant if the retailer imposes this separately Fixed charges daily Fixed daily charge Demand based daily charge Total daily standing charge 5 0 8800 Fixed charges monthly Total monthly charge f In the Block Categories section enter the different tariff categories These may show up later in reports For example there2. 40 000 30 000 20 000 10 000 SO This chart has the same data as the one above but shows seasonal patterns in the bill cost Total estimated bill cost Monthly e BAU E 20kW 50kW 99kW 4 000 3 000 2 000 1 000 i l _ OG 1 000 2 ese 52 000 Ma e H 3 000 54 000 ON ae O a 5 000 6 000 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Page 38 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix A Sourcing information on electricity consumption Electricity consumption varies throughout the year and over the course of a day Sunulator needs this information to calculate economic results You may be able to source this information from several sources Some sources are more accurate and reliable than others This is the best option if available Contact the electricity distributor the company that owns the poles and wires in the street or electricity retailer who send the bill and ask if this is available Modern meters include interval meters and smart meters These record electricity consumption by half hour interval in Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST Older mechanical meters such as the spinning disk do not record data automatically Rather they can only tell the total consumption accumulated since the last time it was read like the odometer on a
3. Otherwise select option a You also need to specify a date range e tis best to enter a full year to cover different seasonal effects e ifin doubt select the most recent calendar year t The exception is systems on gross metering contracts such as those available in NSW and the ACT for systems installed between 2009 and 2011 The Feed in Tariff can vary by state electricity distributor retailer and date of solar installation Some existing systems receive a feed in tariff higher than consumption tariff eg the 60c Premium Feed in Tariff previously available in Victoria but closed to new entrants Page 7 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide With Enter Estimates you give Sunulator some information on electricity consumption Then when you run Sunulator it will construct a half hourly consumption dataset consistent with this information for the date range you specified in the previous sheet This worksheet lets you input the variation throughout the year A simple option is to obtain an average monthly consumption from the last electricity bill e Find the kWh total and divide by the number of months included in the bill Workshel t 2b Enter Estimates Monthly Consumption How much electricity does this consumer typically use in each month This can be obtained from electricity bills or metering data State Nsw For public holid
4. XmasMaint e Enter start and end date for the date range e Select the option and the factor if required as for the previous table 2 1 2 3 Daily Consumption Option 2 If you selected the consumption option Half hourly intervals you will go to this worksheet instead of the previous one This worksheet allows you to input a weekday profile with more precision Page 10 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Interval EndTime _ EnergyPercent Chart Weekday consumption by interval a 00 30 i C 01 00 For each of the 48 intervals e Click on the yellow cell e Enter a percentage You can also copy and paste from another spreadsheet Please note that with this option weekday and public holiday options from Consumption option 1 still apply For example you may want weekends to retain the same profile but at only 80 of the consumption If you have half hourly meter data in a spreadsheet this is the option for you For tips on obtaining meter data please see appendix A It s up to you to format your spreadsheet as follows e First column contains a date eg 01 01 2013 e 48 columns containing half hourly consumption in kWh Tip if your raw data has a row for each half hour interval try using an Excel pivot table to format it into the required layout Worksheet 2c Consumption Data Copy and If you have dhosen to enter co
5. s Sunulator User Guide 2 0 Electricity consumption The economic benefit of a solar system depends on the level of electricity consumption at the site where the system is located Solar systems are metered under a net basis This means that solar generation first goes to meet immediate onsite electricity consumption reducing the metered import from the grid Only the excess if any is recorded by the electricity meter and exported to the grid Electricity exported to the grid typically is worth up to 8c per kWh This is called a Feed in Tariff FiT for small medium sized systems or a Power Purchasing Agreement PPA with the energy retailer By comparison electricity imported from the grid might cost around 25 or 35 cents per kWh Clearly solar generation consumed immediately onsite is worth much more than exports You need to obtain either metered consumption data or general information about site consumption before you can enter it in Sunulator For some tips please see Appendix A Sourcing information on electricity consumption To get up and running quickly you can start with default data Then come back later refine it and re run Sunulator The first worksheet under Consumption gives you this choice Which option would you like to use at Enter Estimates ib Copy and paste e Click on the yellow cell to get the drop down list e lf you have obtained detailed metering data select option b
6. Alt key while doing this e Create or open a document for example in Microsoft Word e Paste the image of the window This worksheet provides a range of information on the results for each scenario Depending on the options selected by the user for each scenario some statistics are not relevant and show up as blanks You can copy data from this worksheet and paste it into another document or spreadsheet This section is just a handy reference of some user inputs that have an impact on the results For details of these inputs please see previous sections of this document 7 a sennoman OO OOOO OO tem pa ok sokw w Of Key Simulation Inputs Number of installations es a ee ee ee ee ee Community Ownership Option Consown _ CommOwn ProjFin Retail Financial discount Rate 65 65 6e e Horizon years ee 5 s E Evaluating economic feasibility takes some effort and it s easy to lose sight of the project s environmental benefits that are less tangible but may be even more important Simulation Results Environment Tonnes of carbon dioxide offset annually Loe 155 8 311 6 Equivalent number of cars off theroad TA sos Carbon dioxide offset This is a rough indication using the Australian average emissions intensity of grid electricity generation Cars off the road Another rough estimate assuming typical petrol consumption 5 2 2 1 Other benefits For a host site additional no
7. car Data may be available on a website which typically requires a login and password The best websites allow you to download a data file Alternatively the company may be able to email you the data file Unfortunately these companies do not use a standard file format Meter data typically comes in a spreadsheet or text file format for example Comma Separated Values csv file These require some skill with a spreadsheet to manipulate There is also a standard raw meter data format called NEM12 For specific projects ATA may be able to assist import NEM12 data into Sunulator You can do your own meter readings There are many different kinds of meter you may need to ask the electricity distributor how to get the correct number To work out how electricity consumptions varies throughout the day record the number several times during the day For example a factory you might read the meter at the start and end of each shift Then subtract the two numbers to find out how much electricity was consumed during that period Of course a single day may be unrepresentative If possible repeat the meter readings over several days and see how it changes As part of its advocacy function ATA is pushing for a standard format for metering data Page 39 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Electricity bills are typically issued quarterly and show total co
8. menu Page 22 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide These settings depend on which community ownership option you selected on the previous sheet Variables that are not relevant are cross hatched these will not be included in the calculations If you selected Consumer Owned and there is only a single site you can ignore this worksheet E r Variable info Unit Example ebau fzokw sow fookw CommOption Community ownership option CommOwn ConsOwn CommOwn Commown commown General variables e Number of installs A community organisation may plan to install solar systems on multiple sites to gain economies of scale In this case the variables on the Solar worksheet should be considered as a generalised configuration If the number of installs is left blank it will default to 1 e Entity establishment costs A community organisation investing in solar will need to set up a structure for example a unit trust or cooperative This variable covers the one off costs to do this e Entity management costs Annual management administration costs for the organisation e Metering installation costs For some options the host site consumer pays the community group for electricity consumed from the solar system In this case a meter may be required on the solar system to verify this amount e Other benefits A community group may pool investment
9. of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Some tariffs are based on the maximum or peak import from the grid in a half hour interval This section shows this for each scenario taking into account the impact of solar generation Simulation Results per installation Maximum Demand Overall maximum grid import kW 66 14 63 61 63 61 63 61 il Date of max grid import Mono2 09 13 Fri 18 10 13 Fri 18 10 13 Fri 18 10 13 Time of max grid import 13 00 13 00 13 00 13 00 These stats are used in calculating the overall bill impact statistics above They may be useful when examining average daily costs Please note that based on the community ownership option different scenarios draw on these components in different ways Avg daily electricity bill energy charges _ 131 51 75 52 Avg energy charge perkWwh imported 24 Avg daily electricity costs inc feed in For ownership options other than Consumer Owned the community group will be paying dividends back to investors This worksheet gives some insight into what those returns might look like r cashFlow Depreciation 20 000 E T E 0 4 6 iz 3 mri Page 34 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This shows a financial projection for the community group as a whole e Cash flow This is the overal
10. org au ata research Sunulator For greater accuracy of results Sunulator makes an allowance for this effect The level of export depends on the relative size of consumption and generation on a smooth curve For example e Generation consumption export 17 of generation e Generation is 50 of consumption export 9 of generation e Generation is 20 of consumption export 4 of generation e Generation is less than 15 of consumption export 0 gt Over the user defined date range which is typically an entire calendar year Fora Typical Meteorological Year prepared from hourly Bureau of Meteorology satellite data Page 28 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 5 0 Sunulator results Sunulator has several reports to help you interpret its results All measures are calculated over the user defined financial horizon except for payback which may use the full 35 year horizon Since taxation is very dependent upon individual situations Sunulator touches on this subject only lightly e Depreciation is included only for the initial investment not equipment replacement e Depreciation is calculated on a straight line basis only e Depreciation is not considered for the cash flow projection and most financial measures o Net Present Value o Payback period o Return on Investment o Levelised Cost of Energy The effect of depreciation on taxable income is shown
11. s Sunulator User Guide This sheet presents a variety of charts and tables to assist the user gain insight into the solar options A few of them are reproduced here First select an option from the drop down menu To view the table relating to the chart scroll down the window The values in the table can be copied and pasted into other spreadsheets Total kWh generated by month over the simulation period This shows seasonal patterns in the solar resource affected by tilt and orientation of the array of each scenario Monthly Generation 60 000 BAU 20kw SOkW 99kW 50 000 40 000 gt po w amp 30 000 4 gt Z 5 20 000 4 10 000 0 a ne eee eee ee Deen ees gt ee ie eee eens eames Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total generation over a year compared to annual electricity consumption Generation is broken down into e SolarOffset Solar electricity consumed on site e SolarExcess Solar electricity exported to the grid This helps in sizing an appropriate solar system Annual generation vs consumption Mam Sum of SolarOffset EEE Sum ofSolarExcess eam mSumof Consumption 500 000 400 000 N Q Q Q O Energy kWh 100 000 0 4 a BAU 20kW 50kW 99kW Page 36 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s
12. year If you have not yet received quotes from solar installers you can use benchmark prices available from a variety of sources eg http www solarchoice net au blog category installation advice solar system prices 2 If you already have quotes you can enter them directly At the time of writing solar systems installed by an accredited supplier are eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates RECs For systems smaller than 100 kW they are known as Small Technology Certificates STCs and 15 years worth can be claimed up front effectively discounting the purchase price This discount is generally managed by the system installer When estimating prices make sure you know whether they include the STC discount and GST Page 20 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide EapCostrixed Upfront capital cost pre Ger negative p 32 maf nos 2082 Recoffset Offset fram redeemingnecs anokw s szos e 12203 aroso f3 esso CapcostNetPreGsT Cost after RECs precst S ssosofs s a7seo 03 920 105 90 est oodsandservicestax k sess e amele s392f3 10590 Capcostnet Capital cast afternecs andes fs sasasfs anase sana s2053 KapCostvetPeniv Capital cost per kw afterRecsandest S saa szo sao saod a Up front Capital cost Enter this if you have a quote pre GST and pre STC discount Capital cost per Watt Enter this
13. 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Based on rules at the time of writing this section only has an impact if the system size is greater than or equal to100 kW In this case RECs are known as Large Generator Certificates LGCs If the system size is less than 100 kW the scenario cells are cross hatched Annual REC revenue Only for system size gt 100 Kl RecSalePrice Price obtainable for RECs when selling each year eee ee 1 7 ResComplyCost as ove but zerifsystem lt 100kw S Wag YMA a RecSaleCastinput Annual administrative costto sell RECs 79799 Recselecost as above but zeroit system aaow e a GY EL D e REC Sale Price This is the estimated price that will be received for each REC generated REC compliance cost The annual cost incurred to ensure compliance with rules for selling REC for example metering and auditing e REC sale input cost The annual administrative cost involved in selling RECs Sunulator is focussed on community solar projects and can model four different arrangements for community ownership of a solar system e Consumer Owned e Community Owned e Project Financing e Community Retailer For more information on these options please refer to this page in Sunulator or the presentation Community solar investment options available at www ata org au ata research Sunulator 1 o s fow ee For each scenario e Click the yellow cell e Select an option from the drop down
14. 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Information on costs can be entered separately for each scenario These variables influence the reported financial results unit Example sau ow fow pow ennie ry FT Retailer feed in Tariff for export SfkwWwh 9 O DiscountRate Discounts the value of benefits in future years Mo of years to include in MPW and ROI IRR calcs Consumption Tariff Select from the drop down box Each tariff s settings can be changed in the section Tariffs Feed in Tariff This is how much money or credit is received from the electricity retailer per kWh exported to the grid You ll need to check this with the retailer Discount Rate When you run Sunulator it calculates annual cash flows 35 years into the future Money available now more has more value than money received in 35 years time due to the opportunity to invest in other ventures Sunulator uses the discount rate to also calculate a 35 year discounted cash flow This is used for financial measures such as Discounted Payback Period Net Present Value and Return on Investment You might choose to set this to match the rate at which you can borrow money or the return you would receive in alternative investments Horizon Each person or organisation has different financial circumstances some may take a longer view than others Set the horizon as you see fit financial returns are ignored beyond that
15. Sunulator User Guide gt ay y A 1 A Alternative Technology Association August 2014 ddh h ATA s Sunulator User Guide ey Document Information Document Version Date Prepared By Reviewed By Comments SunulatorUserGuide1a01 27 5 14 Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Energy Initial Draft Energy Analyst Projects amp Policy Manager SunulatorUserGuide1b03 10 6 14 Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Energy Version 1 Energy Analyst Projects amp Policy Manager SunulatorUserGuide1c01 26 6 14 Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Energy Updated for sign convention Energy Analyst Projects amp Policy change don t have to input costs Manager as negative numbers SunulatorUserGuide1c02 10 6 14 Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Energy Added a few clarifications time Energy Analyst Projects amp Policy zones inflation etc Manager 2014 Alternative Technology Association All rights are reserved No part of this report may be reproduced without acknowledgement of source ATA Energy Projects Team Prepared by Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Alternative Technology Association Level 1 39 Little Collins St Melbourne VIC 3000 61 3 9639 1500 61 3 9639 5814 www ata org au Promoting Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation since 1980 KP091 www ata org au 28 August 2014 ATA s Sunulator User Guide Document niomat Nassua a EENE NERE aE 2 1 0 IN OCUICTION osissa iona E E 4 1 1 P
16. Sunulator User Guide You can select a specific date within the simulation period using the drop down box in the table Alternatively you can select an entire season to display an averaged generation profile This is useful for understanding the difference between cloudy days and sunny days Daily Generation by half hourly interval BAU 20kw SOkW 99kW 120 00 100 00 80 00 60 00 Energy kWh 40 00 20 00 0 00 Se SS 6 o eeeeceerssHdeae ee GOGODOGO mMM MN M AMAM M MAMM MAMMAM MAMM MAMMAM MAMM MAMMA O ada NmMetTH DORADAANMHT HOR DWAHOAN MH So0o0oceoaoeeo oO oO RA KAP KA KA KB dA dA ARNON NNN Page 37 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet contains charts and tables to help visualise the cost impact of scenarios This chart gives a quick indication of a solar system s bill impact e A large negative number represents large annual bills paid to the grid retailer e A positive number means that feed in tariff payments outweigh the bills for grid import Note that this does not distinguish between community ownership options it only represents the consumer owned case The Feed in tariff is always applied even for systems larger than 100 kW REC revenue from LGCs is not included Total estimated bill cost over the simulation date range 60 000 50 000
17. T OV Vea E E evar ace eons Se saa gec os aeteaeteoace st sa eaneodeennoe datcnosenannaoandenesenaes 4 1 2 LOCO ONS aeina tiene oaanctieae hoes encesentuameremeus ones eacateariatelanen E atc tsaebocovtateessaeneaenie 4 1 3 OC step ere cee ve ae sors no eto ss E 4 1 4 System requirements to use Sunulator sicasscsincscscesdecssnacsvivncessasscecsessenatgesivacwpeanedesnenansennnetieens 5 1 5 TETE a EE 5 1 6 WAO CamUse SUNULITOT l esseni r A cut naerMiueaangohunistyss 5 1 7 WAOE WE ea A A E E E EE A ees 5 1 8 Jar TIDS ean T 5 1 9 CONVE MIONE con E E A sauce coctusnaeedenee ecesscenseentanecie 6 2 0 Electricity consumption sessesesessessssessssssecsssesesseoessecesseossssossseossssoscssossesosssesecssossssoseseseoe 7 2 1 Entering consumption information into Sunulator sesssseseesesseresesrrresrrrrssreresrreresereserresseeee 7 30 VIG WANS an E E AEE E 12 3 1 FOTE L a T T A E OA 12 3 2 TOS OT U eTa ona EA O 13 3 3 Anytime peak demand tariffs ctcecaarsersetcctbes ohacerceatc beseech tet ne EEE EEEN E Ess 14 3 4 EMEP INNS OF TA aep E E E T S 16 40 Sim lanon NOG cigars a E E 17 4 1 SENOS a T E sateen cee este een see asec 17 4 2 SOIAD suvnc sonesacnrenceunowavtensnavebdeesouciatus E E E 18 4 3 certs EEE same g te ee eeeiectae oie serie seat N 20 4 4 COMMUN OP UOS esnea E 22 4 5 Community variables secre ceenacsaruses en E E e EEEE 23 4 6 F t re variable changes upresnenie ae En EEE A AE A 25 4 7 RUE Modela S 27 50 SUNN ATOR FOS UGS isase Ea
18. a 29 5 1 AKEE SINUS orcas e E ocr syoae coe E A A EA E nies 29 5 2 Recas TAU CE Soe E E E E E E E E E E 30 5 3 FHP eS AOC IO iensen ea ics eslotars ona occas seeais one eiaesaieoeistiatss carats oeeeavduntevocenns neesseeteenes 34 5 4 CONSUMPTION VS Generation CHAINS sccsascacsoscans oesrsacncescatoaaseaasbersanaesancsrsamaedeenaenmennedaimneee 36 5 5 EMA NC CAS r es sesceconc asnsa nace eoccbisasyauoctsvancincee eecemeuecoedunaetendeeseubenaoreecsene 38 Appendix A Sourcing information on electricity CONSUMPTION cccecsccscecsccscsceccccscscececcececes 39 5 6 ECI WCCO Ce ea N 39 5 7 Manual readings of the electricity meter ssosseusesreesrerssssreresrrrsssrerssrrrrssrreserressreresereeeene 39 5 8 BCC EMC Oe E E E 40 5 9 FRO TE a CS ranr E voncinsesseachesedontensetenieesevonsensccteent 40 S10 SUS CCS Coa E se che yaeatn canes poe E E A E 40 Page 3 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 1 0 Introduction Sunulator is a simulation tool that can help you plan a grid connected solar project Unlike most other solar calculators Sunulator uses half hourly consumption data over a whole year to estimate how much solar generation will be consumed onsite versus exported Based on electricity tariff information it then calculates the impact on your electricity bill and projects the savings up to a 35 year timeframe Financial results include payback period ne
19. an to include them in Sunulator Page 16 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 4 0 Simulation model This section covers how scenarios are defined and configured and running Sunulator Most likely you ll have several different options you re considering for a solar project Eg e Different system sizes e Roof surfaces with different orientations and tilts e Locations e Ownership options e Grid tariffs You would like to compare how the different options stack up against each other economically and environmentally To cater for different options like these Sunulator allows you to define up to six scenarios at once When you run Sunulator all the scenarios are run separately but the results worksheets make it easy to compare scenarios against each other Scenario 1 should be entered as a business as usual scenario Typically this has no solar system and current tariffs Most financial results show the difference between scenarios 2 6 and scenario 1 For example what is the saving off the annual bill Scenario 1 is the baseline Scenario number Name e Click on a yellow cell e Enter a scenario name Page 17 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This is where you tell Sunulator about the solar system for each scenario Typically the first Business as Usual
20. ays ete Monthly Energy Consumption kh Chart consumption by month Month Consumption _ Percentage Jan 6 0 Feb 8 0 Mar 9 0 O Ar 8 0 May 9 0 pun 8 0 Oou 75 Aug 8 0 10 0 10 0 a E 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 No 9 5 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul AUS Oct Moy Dec ral 200 000 100 0 Daily avg e Click the State cell and select from the drop down list e Click each yellow cell and type in the number Page 8 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 2 1 2 1 Daily Consumption Options In the next worksheet you select how you would like to enter estimates of daily consumption This workbook has two options to enter this information 1 Nominate several time periods within the day and enter the proportion of daily consumption each period represents 2 For each half hourly interval inthe day enter the proportion of daily consumption it represents Which option would you like to use Click then use drop down list 2 1 2 2 Daily Consumption Option 1 If you selected the consumption option Several Periods here you tell Sunulator how electricity consumption varies throughout a typical weekday You may have obtained this information by manually reading the electricity meter several times per day Please see appendix A for some tips on how to do this Or it may simply be a rough estimate For example you are analysing a
21. business and found that e Average daily consumption is 500 kWh e Morning shift goes from 7 00am to midday e Morning shift consumption is 200 kWh on average So for that period you enter 200 500 40 Period __ StartTime_ _ EndTime _ EnergyPerce Hours e You can change the label of each period this may show up in reports later on e You can change the start time of each period e The end time of each period is defined by the start time of the next period e You must ensure the total is 100 It is common for weekends and public holidays to have different consumption from normal weekdays This worksheet is where you account for that Page 9 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Day Type Saturday PubHiol SEET Flat Momina Flat Lunchtime Flat Afternoon e fyou choose WeekdayFactor you must enter a factor o This day will have same shape as a standard weekday but a different total e The other options are the labels you entered on the previous worksheet o This day will have constant electricity consumption Date ranges with low consumption There may be times of the year when consumption is abnormally low for example business shut downs or holidays You can use this section to reflect this effect tabel Start End Option Factor e Enter range of continuous dates on a separate row e Choose a label for the date range eg
22. down shift selects cells while it jumps e You can copy and paste within yellow cells e You can select a range and use CTRL D to copy down or CTRL R to copy right o But not if the range spans a white cell Page 5 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Please see some notes below on conventions for user entry within Sunulator Sunulator works on Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST This aligns with the time zone for electricity metering data which is AEST within the National Electricity Market NEM So when entering times into Sunulator please enter them as AEST If Sunulator is expanded to cover WA and NT which are outside the NEM provision will be made for different time zones Sunulator uses constant dollars so there is no need to inflate future prices by the Consumer Price Index CPI Few prices involved in Sunulator have much relation to CPI For example the biggest driver of grid electricity tariffs is investment in the distribution networks which can double in a decade then stay flat for a decade Solar panels have been dropping dramatically over the past several years From an investor point of view you may want to factor CPI into the rate of return on the investment In this case you can add CPI onto the discount rate see the section on costs below Page 6 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA
23. e 48 rows o Eg if you only have a single rate you might enter Single e You can copy and paste to speed up data entry o Clicka cell o Select copy from the Excel menu o Drag select a range of cells o Select paste from the Excel menu e There is a separate table for weekends and public holidays At the time of writing anytime peak demand tariffs are typically only applied to industrial and commercial customers Anytime peak demand tariffs depend on the highest recorded half hourly electricity demand for the site demand is the retailer s term for instantaneous power import from the grid They may also be known as a peak tariff or demand charge For example an Adelaide grocer s peak demand may occur on a weekend afternoon in a heatwave during the pre Christmas rush Their air conditioning is running flat out replenishing air lost through frequently opening doors Peak demand may occur when a solar system is not generating For example a sport club s peak demand might occur during a night game while the floodlights are on Anytime indicates that no times of day are excluded when finding the peak demand Page 14 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Peak tariffs are set in kilowatts kW which is the average power demand over the half hour interval For example the grocer may have consumed 20 kWh during the peak inte
24. ed charges affected by peak demand eg the Anytime Peak tariff This affects the variable portion of the retail import bill ie charges per kWh Use this column as you do the Fixed Bill column A feed in tariff is the amount paid per kWh for exports to the grid If you expect the feed in tariff to change in future use this column For example if you wanted to model a conservative scenario in which feed in tariffs were eliminated in year ten just enter 100 in year ten Page 25 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This is the amount per kWh the community group charges the host site electricity consumer for electricity supplied by the solar system It only applies for the relevant community ownership options Solar panels degrade over time reducing their generation Long term degradation rates of recently produced panels are hard to predict given the lack of data A quite conservative option is to assume they degrade to the extent of their warrantee which typically works out to about 0 83 per year Instead ATA generally prefers to assume a degradation rate of 0 5 per year based on previous long term test results Unlike the other variables percentages for panel degradation do not have a compound effect Page 26 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet r
25. esent Value 5 F151 5 15 733 a a Simple payback period years o e T S Discounted payback period years ooo o T S Return on Investment Int Rate of Return Jo o o To o o o To To e Levelised Cost of Energy LCoe kwh o o do o d S Page 31 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 5 2 4 1 Annual cost saving first year Calculated using the last row of the previous table Compared to scenario 1 5 2 4 2 Percentage cost saving first year Expressed as a percentage of the scenario 1 cost 5 2 4 3 Net Present Value NPV Sum of the cash flow over the user defined financial horizon including the initial investment as a negative impact Cash flows in future years are discounted using the user nominated discount rate 5 2 4 4 Simple payback period This includes all the variables in the cash flow except the discount rate It s included for comparison purposes only the payback period is superior 5 2 4 5 Payback period Cash flow is initially negative due to the up front investment Each year the consumer receives a positive return from the project discounted using the user nominated discount rate At some point the cumulative cash flow turns positive The year in which this occurs is the payback period A blank payback period indicates that the investment takes longer than 35 years to pay back 5 2 4 6 Return on Investment ROI Return on Investment p
26. funds from many individuals Each of these people will have their own investment and tax situation which may experience other benefits or drawbacks as a side effect of the investment To enable a fair comparison between scenarios such effects can be included on an aggregate basis in this variable These benefits are not included when Sunulator works out the taxable income from the investment e Solar Tariff Amount the host site electricity consumer pays to the community group per kWh for electricity consumed from the solar system For the Project Finance option the electricity consumer pays interest to the community group on their up front loan At the time of writing Sunulator supports interest only loans the capital is not repaid within the 35 year modeling horizon Loan variables Loaninterest Interest rate for loan to consumer e Loan Interest Click the yellow cell and enter an interest rate o The annual payment is automatically calculated Page 23 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide It is not easy to gain accreditation as a retailer on an Australian electricity grid Costs will be high for initial setup and annual operations Emerging alternatives may be more realistic for example operating under an umbrella retailer organisation or gaining an exemption as an embedded network With the community retailer option there is no external reta
27. geing future changes to tariffs Page 32 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide e Establishment costs One off includes costs to set up the community entity install metering set up a retailer if relevant to the scenario e Annual admin costs Includes annual management admin and costs to administer selling RECs if the system is larger than 100 kW e Up Front investment The up front cost to the community group to install the solar system after REC rebates if any and GST e Sales to on site consumers Annual revenue from electricity sold to the host site consumer This will vary over time due to panel degradation and tariff changes as nominated by the user e Sales to off site consumers This is only relevant for the Community Retailer option and takes the place of a feed in tariff e Loan revenue This is only relevant for the Project Finance option e Feed in revenue Annual amount received by the community group for energy fed into the grid and receiving a feed in tariff This can vary over time e REC benefits Annual revenue received from the sale of Renewable Energy Certificates Only relevant for systems larger than 100 kW e Other benefits Expected side effect benefits to individual investors aggregated over the community group Please see the section Costs in the chapter Simulation Model e Annual cost for maintenance Allowance f
28. if you have a rough cost estimate per Watt pre GST and pre STC discount REC price If your installer is providing the STC rebate as a discount off the price they should tell you what price they will apply This may be an estimate as the price changes over time CapCost Calculated from the previous two variables S 50 000 125 000 247 500 Deeming years Under current rules this is fifteen years It is generally advisable to clean solar panels occasionally especially if they have a shallow tilt Inspection is also a good idea You can check this with solar installers If the cost is expected to be incurred less frequently eg 5 yearly please convert to an annualised amount Annual operational expenses MaintCost amp nnual Annual solar maintenance eg cleaning testing 5200 ES SS SS SSS SSE SSS SaaS SSS SSeS Sunulator s cash flows include allowances for equipment replacement with separate categories for panel inverter and other years 30 3 000 ReplacelnyCast Cost of inverter replacement ReplaceOthervearg Frequency of replacing other equipment ars ReplaceOtherCost Cost of replacing other equipment For each category Enter the replacement frequency in number of years Enter the estimated cost to replace the equipment You may enter a fixed dollar value or an excel formula based on the system cost or cost per watt Page 21 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45
29. iler to pay a feed in tariff Instead the community retailer manages the electricity exported to the grid Sunulator allows a single tariff for which the community group can sell this electricity For example the community retailer might sign up local community members and become their billing retailer Retailer variables RetailEstablish Costs to set up as an electricity retailer 5 1 000 000 Retail hgt Annual retail operations inc prudentials 5 100 000 Retail Tariff Retail value of each kWh sold to public ok Wh 50 15 O O e Retail Establishment Cost Enter a cost as a one off amount e Retail Management Cost Enter an annual cost e Retail Tariff Enter an amount per kWh for which exported electricity will be sold When comparing returns from different investments the tax implications can often be important The community group can claim depreciation of the solar system as a tax deduction This reduces the taxable income investors need to declare on dividends they receive from the community group Reports show this effect after you run Sunulator As with other areas in Sunulator the community group will need to seek professional advice on this Tax related variables DeprecEffTaxRatg Effective tax rate for depreciation purposes 32 5 DeprecAssetLife Asset life of solar system for depreciation No 2 DeprecSalvageVal Salvage value of solar system for depreciation S 1 000 e Effective tax rate This depends on the finances
30. ilt frames then enter them as separate arrays in sections A and B Otherwise you can enter them all as one array Please enter the nameplate capacity of the array ie the rated capacity at standard test conditions in kW A single typical solar panel has a capacity of 0 25 kW Residential systems are typically 5 kW or smaller At the time of writing Sunulator does not support systems in which the inverter is under sized compared to the array capacity Tilt is measured from horizontal Typically panels are installed on the same tilt as the roof as long as it s greater than 10 degrees To some extent tilts greater than 10 degrees self clean when it rains Page 18 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide For southern parts of Australia a tilt in the vicinity of 30 degrees is good to maximise total annual generation You can verify this with Sunulator Sunulator does not currently support arrays that move to track the sun With current prices such systems are rarely economic North orientation maximizes annual generation and environmental benefits However it may not give the greatest economic return An east facing array will generate more on summer mornings and west facing on summer evenings The value of generation at times of onsite electricity consumption may outweigh the value of extra generation that is exported to the grid You can test this
31. in Sunulator You can enter a variety of abbreviations eg North East NorthEast NE etc Or you can enter a compass bearing where north O degrees and East 90 degrees Please note that Sunulator expects an orientation based on true north This can vary from magnetic north by up to 15 degrees For more information google declination map Australia Even when facing directly into full sun your solar system will rarely deliver its rated capacity due to factors such as Dirt on the panels Thermal derating hot panels generate less Losses in the electrical cables and inverter In Sunulator all such factors are allowed for in the single array efficiency number ATA tested Sunulator against generation reported from dozens of real world systems in different locations and found that an efficiency of 80 generally provided a good match Separate to the array efficiency Sunulator also allows for lower generation in future years due to panel ageing Some other solar calculators use a lower efficiency number but this includes an allowance for ageing too If your site suffers from shading you will need to estimate a lower efficiency to compensate If a scenario includes a second array enter its details in the second array section For the southern hemisphere Based on public data from PvOutput org for all of 2013 running Sunulator with 2013 insolation data Page 19 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9
32. in worksheet 5c Financial Projection If the user has allowed for the aggregate effect of individual taxation benefits Other benefits it is included in the cash flows and financial measures This is entered in worksheet 4c Model Cost Variables As soon as Sunulator finishes running it pops up a window highlighting the scenarios with the best results The values in quick results are described in more detail further in this document Sunulator quick results b For carbon dioxide emissions P Scenario 99k gives the greatest benefit equivalent to removing 135 cars From the road Over the user defined financial horizon of 25 years and For the user defined discount rate of of 6 5 For the electricity consumer Scenario 99k has the lowest export of solar generation at 72 Scenario SOkW gives the greatest net saving of 1 008 171 For the community group investing over a single installation Scenario SOkW has the best Wet Present Value of 30 640 Scenario SOkW gives the best return on investment of 7 1 Scenario SOkW gives a payback period of 23years Page 29 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide If you want to save this window you can copy and paste it into a document using screen capture Most Windows PCs have a keyboard button next to F12 called Prt Scr e Press this button o You may need to hold down the
33. includes both compliance and administrative costs Cost for maintenance eg cleaning or inspection An annual cost as input by the user Annual cost total first year Sum of the annual items above This shows the overall annual financial impact on the electricity consumer Based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet this may vary for future years in the cash flow This section presents some measures based on the cash flow projection for each scenario These measures assume that the first scenario is a business as usual BAU scenario against which the other scenarios can be compared For example the consumer may still be paying an electricity bill to their retailer but it is smaller than BAU so the bill reduction can be counted as a benefit When comparing scenarios it is best to consider more than one measure For example a tiny project may have a great return on investment but net present value is small compared to a more substantial alternative project Below is a brief description of these standard financial measures Please refer to other sources for more information If the electricity consumer incurs no up front cost for example with the Project Finance option then some measures are not relevant eg Return on Investment IRR Consumer financial projections compared to Scenario I Annual cost saving first year ee ee ee o Y o Y Percentage cost saving first year e es ey Net Pr
34. l cash flow for the community group The up front investment occurs in year zero e Depreciation Sunulator uses straight line depreciation only with the user inputs in the Model Cost Variables worksheet e Earnings Before Interest and Tax EBIT This is an estimate of taxable income calculated as the sum of annual cash flows minus depreciation This shows a financial projection for an individual investor as an amount per dollar invested e Cash Return A projection of the amount returned to the investor per dollar invested e Taxable Income An estimate of how much the investor s taxable income will be increased on their tax return In this example you can see a negative cash flow and cash return in year ten This happens because the user has estimated that the inverter will require replacement every ten years In reality the community group will need to manage the cash flows for example building up an accumulation fund or to ensure that individuals cashing in their investment can have their money returned It is assumed that depreciation does not apply in the Project Finance option Note if the user has nominated an amount for Other Benefits on sheet 4c this is included in the cash flow and cash return but not the taxable income EBIT As always community groups will need professional financial and taxation advice Page 35 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA
35. may be Off Peak Shoulder and Peak Block categories Categories included in block kwh tallies Retailers often set tariffs in blocks of import for each calendar month For example a business imports 500 kWh in January The first 333 kWh are charged at 24c per kWh then the remaining 167 kWh are charged at 28c per kWh February starts again at 24c per kWh Block thresholds kh per month Blocks apply if the retailer charges a different amount after a tally Each block is additional to the previous block Note a blank threshold is open ended A blank open ended block will apply for all imports exceeding the final threshold Finally below is the table where you enter the cost per kWh You may need to check with the retailer what time the different categories start and end Page 13 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide To deal with blocks e If block thresholds are not relevant to you then just use the column AllBlocks e If all your energy is allocated to blocks then use columns Block1 to Block4 e f some energy is in blocks and some is not use all the columns Energy charge per kvvh Weekdays Note total kWh charge isthe amount in AllBlocks PLUS the amount inthe relevant block Interval _ StartTim End Time Category AllBlocks Blocki Block Block Block e You must enter a category and a number in each of th
36. n quantifiable benefits might include Engagement with the community Enhanced reputation Hedging against rises in future electricity tariffs Page 30 of 41 www ata org au Saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This section considers the economic impact on the electricity consumer If the user has selected a community ownership option such as Community Owned the consumer has no up front investment Consumer financial stats Up Front solar investment 2 e eee Annual electricity cost first year 5 46 365 5 46365 5 46365 5 49 365 Annual loan repayment first year a ee ee Revenue from RECs for systems 100kW TT Annual admin cost for RECs C ee ee ee i 365 Annual cost for maintenance eg cleaning Annual cast total first year 5 46 365 46365 5 46365 48 365 Up Front solar investment The up front cost to the electricity consumer to install the solar system after REC rebates if any and GST Electricity cost The total payment to the grid electricity retailer for a full year based on the simulation by half hourly interval Includes feed in tariffs if relevant Note that this may vary in future years based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet Annual loan repayment Only relevant for the option Project Finance Revenue from RECS Only relevant for systems larger than 100 kW Admin cost for RECs Only for gt 100kW
37. nages the local electricity grid Electricity retailer The company that sends bills for grid electricity kilowatt kW A unit of power equal to 1000 Watts For example a microwave oven might consume 1 kW while it is running kilowatt hour kWh A unit of energy For example if a 1 kW microwave runs for 15 minutes it has consumed 0 25 kWh Typical Meteorological Year TMY A data set for a 365 day period composed of months selected from a multi year data set Months are selected so that the year as a whole is typical Page 41 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM
38. no peak on a weekday leave them blank Start time is the start of the starting interval endtime is the end of the ending interval EndTime 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 rs E po 23 00 po a Page 15 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Some consumers have a special tariff for specified appliances or circuits typically electric hot water systems that can only be run at off peak times during the night Sometimes these tariffs are just called off peak tariffs Controlled loads are metered separately from the rest of the import Sunulator cannot represent them together with the other import in one scenario If possible when a controlled load is separately metered remove the controlled load consumption from Sunulator s consumption profile and ignore their tariff This won t impact the analysis when the controlled load is only used during times of little or no generation This is a type of peak demand tariff for commercial and industrial customers When identifying the peak demand instead of considering the an entire year the energy business considers only five or ten specific days for which it has given its customers pre warning a day or two before If you need to cover a tariff such as this please contact the ATA as we can assist you on a project basis As the energy industry evolves new tariffs are still emerging Once they are more common we pl
39. nsumption data by half ho Units kWh Interval Lis midnight to 0 30am ideal entena ful year of history e Switch to your separate spreadsheet o Select the data and copy it e Switch to Sunulator o Select the cell below Date and paste Page 11 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 3 0 Grid tariffs An energy tariff defines how the bill will be calculated for electricity imported from the grid There are too many different types of tariff for Sunulator to include them all so it focuses on the most common ones Consumers have a choice of tariffs to varying degrees however customers with solar have more limited options than those without Please note that the tariff may be changed when solar is installed you should check this with the electricity retailer Please note that you don t need to fill in every tariff type in Sunulator only the one or two which are relevant for your situation There are some tariffs that cannot be represented perfectly in Sunulator In this case you will have to find the closest approximation These are the most common type of tariff If in doubt use this tariff initially You can always change tariffs later and re run Sunulator Worksheet 3b Flat Rate Tariffs Flat rate tariffs do not vary throughout the day Flat Rate consumption tariff Fixed daily charge Fixed monthly charge Energy charge per k Wh
40. nsumption over that period With the most recent four bills you can obtain useful information on e Total annual consumption and e Rough variation throughout the year The number to look for is the number of kilowatt hours kWh However bills give no details on how consumption varies within the quarter let alone within a day In the absence of other information you can use rough estimates For example the average household consumes about 28 kWh of electricity per day with peaks in the morning and evening The problem with such estimates is that consumption patterns can vary wildly by site For houses this includes e Size of household e WWork school patterns e Climate and weather e Electrical appliances e Other energy sources used eg gas e Individual behaviour e Weeks when the house is empty eg holidays For businesses e Size of business e Climate and weather e What electricity is used for eg o Computers o Welders e Working hours e Lunch breaks e Weeks when the business is empty You may have access to information from a site similar to the one you are analysing in Sunulator For accuracy the site should have similar characteristics as listed above Page 40 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Energy business A catch all term covering electricity distributors and retailers Electricity distributor The company that owns and ma
41. of the community group e Asset life Typically 20 years seek professional advice e Salvage value Requires professional advice Page 24 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Variables are likely to change over Sunulator s 35 year cash flow projection In this worksheet you can allow for this by entering percentage changes for several variables for each year of the horizon These percentages have a compound effect unless noted otherwise In a rapidly evolving energy sector electricity tariffs are difficult to predict A starting point is the forecasts by the Australian Energy Market Operator AEMO Google Economic Outlook Information Paper In 2013 AEMO forecast that future retail prices would remain quite flat Incremental Changes PanelDeg i a 6 8 3 EET This is the fixed portion of the retail import bill ie standing charges If you expect this to increase on average by 1 per year then enter 1 into each yellow cell in this column The cumulative effect for each year is shown in the white column FixedBill to the right For example e A scenario is using the tariff type Fixed Rates e Inthe section Tariffs you entered a fixed charge of 1 00 per day e Inthis worksheet you entered a 1 increase in each future year e In year ten the daily fixed charge will be 1 110 5 1 11 This percentage also affects fix
42. ons between these estimates and actual results experienced under any circumstances Economic projections in Sunulator are general in nature and do not take into account any particular person s objectives Financial situation or needs Users should before acting on this information consider its appropriateness haying regard to their personal situation We advise that users obtain financial advice specific to their situation before making any investment Do you agree Page 27 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide When you run Sunulator it goes through several steps 1 Create half hourly consumption data Estimate solar generation for each half hour Estimate net import and export during each half hour Calculate energy statistics Calculate tariff impacts for each half hour oT a E Calculate financial statistics and measures For each half hour interval solar generation estimates take into account Sunshine conditions at the location The angle of incidence of the sun s rays to the solar panels When solar generation approaches the level of on site consumption real world systems commonly record some export as well as import This is caused by minute to minute fluctuations in consumption and generation For more information on this issue please see ATA s presentation Solar payback the devil is in the detail at www ata
43. or cleaning inspection etc e Basic Annual Cash Flow Sum of the annual items above This shows the overall annual financial return for the community group Based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet this may vary for future years in the cash flow This section presents the same measures as the section Consumer financial projections For details please refer to that section For this section LCOE also includes costs to establish the community group Investor financial projections compared to Scenario I Net Present Value 3 02 23 405 Simple payback period years Discounted payback period years 22 Y Return on Investment Int Rate of Return Levelised Cost of Energy LCoE 5 kWh 5 O 16 5 0 15 a This section is useful to gain insight into levels of generation and consumption across scenarios Export percentage is particularly useful in sizing a solar system Avg daily consumption exe salar kwh saz95 savas sa7 95 547 95 Avg Daily generation kwh a ss e5se5 1 200 48 Avg Daily generation per kW of capacity an anj anj Avg daily solar consumed on site 2 30 3245 360 80 Avg net daily consumption kwh sarss smmazj aos 732 54 Avg daily export kwh Jo o o ss aa 99e Avg dailyimport kwh b wwasj j anaes mrsof 18715 Self consumptionof solar generation o sse wfo o 28 Export as a of solar generation Ooo w a emo r aaa I IIU IIU Page 33
44. re approximate and cannot be expected to replicate calculations performed in an electricity retailer s billing system Page 4 of 41 www ata org au saved 28 08 2014 9 44 00 AM Printed 28 08 2014 9 45 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide To use Sunulator you must have A reasonably fast stable computer Microsoft Excel 2003 or later System permissions to run Excel macros VBA code Sunulator has several inputs and decision points Please allow at least half an hour excluding data gathering Sunulator is focused on community solar projects but there s no reason it can t also be used by businesses or households To get the most out of Sunulator we recommend that you have some prior skills and understanding for example Confidence using Microsoft Windows Desktop or the Apple equivalent for example creating folders and viewing file extensions Have a basic understanding of energy concepts eg kWh and kW Have a basic knowledge of financial concepts eg Payback Period and Net Present Value Sunulator has been developed by the Alternative Technology Association ATA www ata org au Australia s leading not for profit organisation promoting sustainable solutions for the home Yellow cells are for user entry e Cross hatched yellow cells do not need any user entry Other inputs have made them irrelevant e CTRL down arrow jumps to the bottom of a filled table CTRL right arrow jumps to the right o Holding
45. rovides an overall percentage return for the project which is useful when comparing projects against each other or against alternative investments such as bank accounts It uses the Internal Rate of Return IRR method which determines the discount rate at which the cash flow over the user defined financial horizon would be zero This measure does not use the user nominated discount rate For some situations ROI IRR cannot be calculated for example if the project achieves payback in the first year 5 2 4 7 Levelised Cost of Energy LCOE LCOE estimates the overall cost of generating electricity from the solar system per kWh This is useful to compare against other projects and also against retail electricity costs per kWh It is calculated by dividing total generation over the user defined financial horizon by the total up front and capital costs for the project both discounted by the user nominated discount rate Costs include both the up front system cost and equipment replacement costs This section considers economic returns to a community group investing money in a solar system It s only relevant if the user has selected an option other than Consumer Owned investor financial stats Establishment costs 6 000 1 000 204 534 22 061 I Other Benefits annual Annual cost for maintenance eg cleaning Basic annual cash flow in first year Annual REC revenue first year wh be oo Co 7 Eg solar panel a
46. rval This equates to an average power demand of 40 kW for half an hour The demand charge is the annual fixed charge per kW of demand For example if the demand charge is 100 per kW the retailer is charged 40 100 4 000 This charge will be spread out over subsequent bills Minimum Demand is a minimum level for the demand charge For example the grocer may be on a tariff with a minimum demand of 50 kW In this case even though their actual demand was 40 kW the demand charge is 50 100 5 000 Energy businesses have different schedules by which they reset the demand charge to take account of recent history Sunulator finds the interval with maximum import over the entire consumption data range typically one year If the scenario has a solar system Sunulator will take its generation into account automatically reducing the demand charge if the peak demand has been reduced Typically anytime peak demand tariffs are not purely based on the peak demand there is also a component that s priced on the energy consumption Tariff Settings for Anytime Peak Demand tariff Otf peak energy e Enter the Minimum Demand and Demand Charge e Enter the energy charges for peak and off peak periods This section allows you to define the start and end times for the peak period for the energy charge All other times will be charged at the off peak rate Peak times for Anytime Peak Demand tariff Half hourly intervals If there is
47. scenario doesn t have a solar system Scenario Names Variable Info Unit Example pau zokw 5okw 99kw ocation Variables Used for solar data Melbourne Sydney Sydney Airpo Melbourne f Moorabbin ayATilt Panel tilt above horizontal Cape Otway ArrayAOrient Orientation bearing or description NorthEast Inverloch sage Geelong ArrayAEtt Efficiency from panel to socket 0 Please select a location from the drop down box Please note that not all Australian states are supported yet as Sunulator has been developed with funding from state based organisations At the time of writing only NSW and Vic are included Locations have been selected to cover a range of population centres and climates Sunulator has a higher density of locations where annual sunshine varies a lot from place to place for example mountain ranges and the coast Select a location close to the site you are analysing But also take into consideration the level of sunshine at your site A location slightly further away may be more representative than the closest one It may help to refer to a solar map eg http solargis info doc free solar radiation maps GHI How the location list is sorted Capital city locations are listed at the top Then Locations are sorted by state Then From south to north within the state If your scenario has solar panels facing in two different directions for example on different roof surfaces or t
48. t present value and Return on Investment Sunulator allows you to compare the results for several scenarios for example different system sizes or panel orientations In Australia most solar installations are owned directly by the electricity consumer eg a home owner Sunulator is designed to assist community organisations to install solar systems via additional investment options e Community organisation installs a system and sells electricity to the host site e Solar system installed via a loan from a community organisation e Community organisation acts as an electricity retailer Economic returns are estimated both for investors and the host site ATA provides Sunulator free of charge for community use at www ata org au ata research Sunulator Since Sunulator s development has been funded by state specific organisations it currently includes locations in the following Australian states and territories New South Wales Victoria Sunulator can be used in other states but a proxy location will have to be selected As additional funding is obtained we hope to support other states in future versions Sunulator is for solar systems on sites connected to an electricity grid in Australia It will not produce a detailed solar system design that will need to be done by an accredited designer and or installer Billing and tariff calculations are included to assess the overall financial attractiveness of different options they a
49. uns Sunulator drawing on all the inputs in the previous sheets Worksheet 4g Run Model When you click the button below a simulation will be run for each scenario Sunulator considers each 30 minute interval in your consumption data in turn Ignoring Scenarios To speed up the process you may wish to ignore some scenarios just farthis run of Sunulataor BAL This is your Business As Usual scenario ignore for this run o 23 fow o 3 fow o a pw E E Run Sunulator Last launched This may take many minutes to complete Last completed Please close any other spreadsheets Run duration mins Please do not turn aff your PC or disturb Excel while if is running Run Sunulator e f there are any scenarios you don t want to include in the results o Click on its yellow box o Enter Y e Click the button Run Sunulator To proceed you must agree to the disclaimer Disclaimer 2 Sunulator is provided by the ATA For use by the community ATA does not warrant guarantee or make any representations as to the suitability of Sunulator s information For any purpose ATA will not be held liable for any claims or damages whatsoever resulting From the use of Sunulator or reliance upon information contained within or produced by the use of Sunulator Sunulator aims to provide a best estimate of economic results over time based on input provided by the user ATA takes no responsibility For variati
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