Solar energy system economic evaluation: final report for SEMCO-Loxahatchee, Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Beach County, Florida

The economic analysis of the solar energy system that was installed at Loxahatchee, Florida Operational Test Site (OTS) is developed for Loxahatchee and four other sites typical of a wide range of environmental and economic conditions in the continental United States. This analysis is accomplished based on the technical and economic models in the f-Chart design procedure with inputs based on the characteristics of the installed system and local conditions. The results are expressed in terms of the economic parameters of present worth of system costs over a projected twenty year life, life cycle savings, year of positive savings and year of payback for the optimized solar energy system at each of the analysis sites. The sensitivity of the economic evaluation to uncertainties in constituent system and economic variables is also investigated. The results demonstrate that the solar energy system is economically viable at all of the five sites for which the analysis was conducted