Life Cycle Costing Analysis of Solar Photo Voltaic Generation System in Indian Scenario

ABSTRACT This paper aims at the application of Life-Cycle-Costing (LCC) analysis of sustainable renewable energy like solar photo voltaic generation system in India to find out its viability and techno-economic feasibility. Life-Cycle-Costinganalysis is employed to evaluate the long term benefit of the huge investments in India’s ambitious plan of setting up nearly 100 GW installed solar power capacity by December 2022. For renewable energy systems, this methodology shows the cost-effectiveness of being used as an alternative source compared to conventional power generations. Case studies of six solar power plants in India in the state of Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and Rajasthan were considered to find out the economic viability of the feasibility of the solar power plants in India. It has been observed that in an emerging economy like India, the feasibility and economic viability of solar power plants are quite high. The cash flow analysis for all six cases confirms that project payback depends on initial investment and rate of Power–Purchase-Agreement (PPA). It has been observed that the payback period is generally less than eight years. Thereby the techno-economic feasibility of the solar power plant projects in India is quite high.