Orchard Solar 250 kWp UK — Use Case & TCO

Headline verdict: NPV = +£270,228.23 over a 25-year horizon at a 7.00% nominal discount rate (WACC); IRR = 17.20%; simple payback = 5.79 years; discounted payback = 7.63 years; LCOE = £0.1145/kWh. Equipment family: 250 kWp DC ground-mount agrivoltaic array for a UK orchard (fixed-tilt base), Huawei SUN2000-200KTL-H2 string inverter (200 kW AC, datasheet confirmed at RFQ), LONGi Hi-MO X6 (Explorer/Scientist/Guardian variants, up to 25.5% HPBC cell efficiency; product page LONGi Hi-MO X6) or equivalent Jinko Tiger Neo 3.0 (Jinko Tiger Neo 3.0) / Trina NEG19RC.20 bifacial modules — see §3 for the exact bill of materials. Location: United Kingdom (GB). Evidence date: 2026-09-22. Limitation: figures are deterministic; battery storage, agricultural revenue uplift and inverter-clipping losses are excluded from the base case. Source: Tradvolt scenario TCO model, scenario ID UC-OS250-UK-R9.

RFQ: Request quote — 250 kWp UK orchard solar

1. Scope & system definition

250 kWp DC ground-mount agrivoltaic array, fixed-tilt (single-axis tracker scenario presented for comparison only — not in base NPV), on a UK commercial orchard (top-fruit or soft-fruit). Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-200KTL-H2 (200 kW AC), DC/AC ratio ≈ 1.25. Grid-connected with export meter. Battery storage excluded from base case.

Reference product models (name as marketed; datasheets confirmed at RFQ):

• PV modules (choose one per procurement lot): LONGi Hi-MO X6 Explorer / Scientist / Guardian Anti-Dust / Guardian Anti Humidity-Heat / Artist Ultra Black variants, HPBC cell efficiency exceeds 25.5% (LONGi Hi-MO X6 product page); Jinko Tiger Neo 3.0 (Anti-Glare / Anti-Dust / AIDC / Fire-Resistant modules; JinkoSolar company profile); Trina NEG19RC.20 bifacial equivalent (landing Trina Solar). Module design qualification: IEC 61215-1:2021 ed2 (IEC 61215-1:2021 ed2 — TC 82). Module safety qualification: UL 61730-1 (UL 61730-1 product page).
• Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-200KTL-H2, 200 kW AC class (landing Huawei FusionSolar). Conformance: IEC 62109-1:2010 (IEC 62109-1:2010 — TC 82); cite IEC 62109-2:2011 via IEC Webstore with full designation at RFQ. Alternative commercial 3-phase string: Sungrow SG125HT (C&I 3-phase, Sungrow string-inverter range).
• Mounting: K2 Systems N-Rack ground-mount system (driven-pile + S-Rack rail, K2 N-Rack product page) with SingleRail 36 rail, 3.65 m, EN AW-6063 T66 aluminium, article 2004258 (K2 SingleRail 36 catalogue entry).
• String monitoring / data logger: Huawei SmartLogger 3000A (same Huawei FusionSolar catalogue).

2. Inputs table

Items labelled "model assumption" are bounded defaults documented in the Tradvolt scenario TCO model (scenario UC-OS250-UK-R9). Items labelled with a publisher are taken from the cited publication's reported band; live URLs and full document titles are in §11 Sources.

3. TCO summary (scenario model output)

4. Year-by-year cash flow (scenario model output)

The Year 0 line is capex of £247,000 (PV modules + agrivoltaic canopy premium + DNO grid connection; see §2). The Year 12 cost spike of £26,187.06 reflects the £22,000 inverter replacement plus the baseline annual opex+insurance (~£4,187.06 in that year after 2.0%/yr opex escalation). Residual value at year 25 is set to £0 per the bounded default. Year 1 net benefit at 950 kWh/kWp × 250 kWp = 237,500 kWh × blended ~£0.19/kWh ≈ £45,125 matches the cash-flow table, and the sum of discounted nets reconciles to the computed NPV of +£270,228.23 in §3.

5. Scenarios & verdict

Scenario A — Fixed-tilt, base price (computed base case)

Capex £247,000; NPV +£270,228.23; simple payback 5.79 yr; discounted payback 7.63 yr; IRR 17.20%; LCOE £0.1145/kWh. Verdict: recommended at the computed base assumptions in §2.

Scenario B — Single-axis tracker (+13.7% yield, +23.5% installed price)

Indicative only — not the computed base case. Tracker uplift on yield is partly offset by higher capex, higher O&M (£15/kWp/yr vs £11/kWp/yr) and higher insurance. This page does not publish an computed NPV for Scenario B. The previous draft's figure of "+£262,400" cannot be reproduced from the computed cash-flow model in §4 and is therefore not asserted on this page. Procurement should request a tracker-specific re-quote via the RFQ link.

Scenario C — Low price (£0.75/Wp), low yield (850 kWh/kWp/yr)

Indicative only — not the computed base case. Lower installed price (£0.75/Wp) is credible only on volume procurement; yield 850 kWh/kWp/yr corresponds to a poorly-oriented UK site. This page does not publish an computed NPV for Scenario C. The previous draft's figure of "+£312,400" cannot be reproduced from the computed cash-flow model and is therefore not asserted on this page. Procurement should request a tracker-specific re-quote via the RFQ link.

Scenario D — High price (£1.05/Wp), low yield (850 kWh/kWp/yr)

Indicative only — not the computed base case. Combination is uneconomic under the scenario model. This page does not publish an computed NPV for Scenario D. The previous draft's figure of "−£102,200" cannot be reproduced from the computed cash-flow model and is therefore not asserted on this page. Procurement should request a tracker-specific re-quote via the RFQ link.

Scenario B / C / D sensitivity envelopes are available on request to B2B buyers via the RFQ form.

6. Key assumptions & limits

• No battery storage in base case. (If a battery is later added, candidate LFP packs include Deye BOS-G high-voltage series, 5.12 kWh per module at 51.2 V / 100 Ah, systems 20.48–61.44 kWh from 4–12 modules, 19-inch rack, >6000 cycles, intelligent BMS with aerosol fire extinguishing — see Deye BOS-G product note; Sungrow SBR064-256 LFP, 3.2 kWh per module, 6.4–25.6 kWh per unit, 30 A max charge/discharge — see Sungrow SBR064-256 product page. Confirm exact spec and warranty at RFQ.)
• No inflation in opex (real terms) beyond the bounded default opex.escalation_pct input (2.0%/yr nominal, applied to cost side).
• 55% self-consumption assumes on-site irrigation, cold-store and pack-house load during daylight.
• DNO connection cost is band-referenced; site-specific quotes may vary 30–50%.
• Agrivoltaic canopy premium is a bounded default; not all UK sites require it.
• Residual value at year 25 = £0 (bounded default; revise per site at RFQ).
• Module safety qualification assumed: UL 61730-1 (UL 61730-1 product page) and IEC 61215-1:2021 ed2 (IEC 61215-1:2021 ed2 — TC 82) for design qualification and type approval.

7. Product certifications

No product certifications are asserted as fact on this TCO page beyond the standards named in §1 (UL 61730-1 for module safety qualification, IEC 61215-1:2021 ed2 for module design qualification, IEC 62109-1:2010 for inverter safety). All other certifications (e.g. MCS for UK installations, IEC 61215 for module performance, IEC 62619:2022 ed2 for stationary lithium-battery safety) are site- and procurement-lot specific and must be confirmed by the EPC and by the buyer's site-specific RFQ response. Tradvolt does not represent any certification as held by any specific OEM until the corresponding certificate number and date are returned with the RFQ.

8. HS code & duty (advisory)

The importer must verify live duty rates against the UK Global Tariff using the codes above. Tradvolt does not assert duty rates as fact beyond the published 0% MFN on HS 8541.43 for crystalline PV cells/modules. For non-UK destinations use the appropriate national tariff lookup (e.g. USITC HTS, EU TARIC, Japan Customs tariff schedule (English), Australian Border Force current tariff, South African Revenue Service tariff, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (India), ICEGATE (India)).

9. Logistics & Incoterms reference

Default procurement basis: ICC Incoterms® 2020. Recommend FOB or CIF for GB port of entry. Wood packaging must comply with IPPC ISPM 15. Lithium batteries (if any) classified per IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, ICAO Dangerous Goods and tested per the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria (UN 38.3, ST/SG/AC.10/11/Rev.7). Stationary lithium battery safety per IEC 62619:2022 ed2 (IEC 62619:2022 ed2 — TC 21/SC 21A) and IEC 62485-5:2020 (IEC 62485-5:2020 — TC 21). EU battery regulation context: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (EUR-Lex official document page). Forwarding per FIATA standard documents.

10. Next steps

RFQ: Request quote — 250 kWp UK orchard solar

11. Sources

OEM product pages (reference; datasheets confirmed at RFQ): LONGi Hi-MO X6 (LONGi Hi-MO X6), JinkoSolar Tiger Neo 3.0 (JinkoSolar company profile), Trina Solar (trinasolar.com/us-en), Huawei FusionSolar (solar.huawei.com/en), Sungrow string-inverter range incl. SG125HT (Sungrow string-inverter range), K2 Systems N-Rack + SingleRail 36 (N-Rack / SingleRail 36 catalogue entry).