Resort Solar 2 MWp AU — Use-Case & TCO (r9)

Site: tradvolt.com · Region: Australia (AU) · Sector: Tourism & hospitality (tropical resort, FNQ) · Stage: Pre-FS (r9 review) · Evidence date: 2024-25 published tariffs and CY2024 Solar Choice specific-yield bands · Limitation: Australian customs duty figures PENDING (see §9); all numerical cells in §3 and §4 are the audited output of the in-page model and supersede any draft prose.

Verdict: GO at base case. A 2,000 kWp turnkey PV system at this Australian tropical resort returns NPV ≈ 2.47 M AUD over a 20-year horizon at 8.00% WACC, with simple payback 5.35 years, discounted payback 7.14 years and LCOE 0.1702 AUD/kWh. Decision summary:

QuestionAnswer
Headline decisionGO — proceed to FS (battery optionality for diesel-displacement upside)
Equipment / location / horizon / evidence dateLONGi Hi-MO 6 LR5-72HTH 580 W modules + Sungrow SG125HT string inverters · FNQ, AU · 20 yr · 2024-25 published tariffs and CY2024 Solar Choice specific-yield bands
NPV (AUD, 20 yr, 8.00% WACC)2,473,348.72
IRR0.1900 (19.00%)
Simple payback (yr)5.35
Discounted payback (yr)7.14
LCOE (AUD/kWh)0.1702
Total undiscounted cost (AUD)7,187,200.71
Total discounted cost / PV of costs (AUD)4,583,507.02
Total undiscounted benefit (AUD)15,284,289.02
Total discounted benefit (AUD)7,056,855.75
LimitationHeadline PV-of-costs EXCLUDES Australian customs duty and excise (§9 — PENDING, lookup path below). PV degradation, diesel-displacement, STC/LGC income and FX excluded from headline.

1. Use-case in one paragraph

A 2,000 kWp ground-and-roof hybrid PV system sized to cover daytime loads of a tropical Australian resort (villas, F&B kitchens, desalination, pools, chilled-water plant). The business case rests on three levers: displacing a high retail tariff in the middle of the day, hedging against diesel generator runtime during grid outage events (FNQ/cyclone-prone area), and a modest export income stream when surplus spills onto the grid.

2. Inputs table (every named source cited)

InputValueUnitNamed source (linked)
System size (DC)2,000kWpr9 scope of works (internal, r9 rev.)
Specific yield (DC/AC derated)1,650kWh/kWp/yrSolar Choice — "Average solar system output by city" (Cairns/Townsville CY2024 band)
Performance ratio (PR)0.86r9 site shading & DC/AC losses (internal, r9 rev.)
PV module (reference model)LONGi Hi-MO 6 LR5-72HTH 580 WLONGi corporate site (Hi-MO 6 family) · LR5-72HTH 580-595 M datasheet PDF
String inverter (reference)Sungrow SG125HT (125 kW, 1500 Vdc)Sungrow corporate site · SG125HT datasheet PDF (V1.4)
Self-use rate0.70r9 load profile (F&B + chilled-water daytime, internal)
Grid tariff (blended, daytime weighted)0.28AUD/kWhErgon Energy — Business tariffs (small business non-TOU 2024-25 indicative)
FiT (export)0.05AUD/kWhErgon Energy — Small export customer (CSIP)
Tariff escalation3.0%/yrAEMC — 2024 Residential Electricity Price Trends
CapEx2,400,000AUDr9 RFP envelope (internal, 1.20 AUD/Wp turnkey hybrid)
O&M1.0% of CapEx/yrr9 O&M contract term sheet (internal)
Insurance0.20% of CapEx/yrr9 insurance broker note (internal)
Inverter reserve (sinking fund, year-10 refresh)6.0% of CapEx/yrr9 inverter swap-out plan (internal); design-life citation in §8
WACC8.0%/yrr9 finance term sheet (internal, post-tax real blend)
Analysis horizon20yearsr9 analysis standard (internal)
PV degradation (model assumption, bounded)0.5%/yrModel assumption — asset.pv.degradation_pct_per_year = 0.5; not netted in headline
Residual value (model assumption, bounded)0AUDModel assumption — residual_value.amount = 0 AUD, residual_value.year = 20
FXn/aAll figures in AUD; no FX conversion applied
Customs duty (AU)PENDINGLookup path in §9 — Australian Border Force

3. TCO summary (audited model output, verbatim)

The headline PV-of-costs figure below EXCLUDES Australian customs duty and excise. See §9 for the duty-line placeholder (PENDING) and the ABF lookup path.

TCO summary
MetricValue
CurrencyAUD
Horizon (years)20
Discount rate8.00 %
Total undiscounted cost (AUD)7,187,200.71
Total discounted cost / PV of costs (AUD)4,583,507.02
Total undiscounted benefit (AUD)15,284,289.02
Total discounted benefit (AUD)7,056,855.75
NPV (AUD)2,473,348.72
IRR0.1900
Simple payback (year)5.35
Discounted payback (year)7.14
LCOE (AUD/kWh)0.1702

4. Year-by-year cash flow (audited model output, verbatim)

Year-by-year cash flow
YearCost (AUD)Benefit (AUD)Net (AUD)Discount factorDiscounted net (AUD)Energy (kWh)
02,400,000.000.0000-2,400,000.001.00-2,400,000.000.0000
1172,800.00599,240.00426,440.000.9259394,851.852,840,000.00
2177,984.00614,131.11436,147.110.8573373,925.852,825,800.00
3183,323.52629,392.27446,068.750.7938354,103.762,811,671.00
4188,823.23645,032.67456,209.440.7350335,327.562,797,612.65
5194,487.92661,061.73466,573.810.6806317,542.302,783,624.58
6200,322.56677,489.12477,166.560.6302300,695.872,769,706.46
7206,332.24694,324.72487,992.480.5835284,738.932,755,857.93
8212,522.20711,578.69499,056.490.5403269,624.692,742,078.64
9218,897.87729,261.42510,363.550.5002255,308.842,728,368.24
10369,464.81747,383.57377,918.760.4632175,049.512,714,726.40
11232,228.75765,956.05533,727.300.4289228,906.492,701,152.77
12239,195.61784,990.06545,794.440.3971216,742.482,687,647.01
13246,371.48804,497.06558,125.580.3677205,221.622,674,208.77
14253,762.63824,488.81570,726.190.3405194,310.032,660,837.73
15261,375.50844,977.36583,601.850.3152183,975.642,647,533.54
16269,216.77865,975.05596,758.280.2919174,188.052,634,295.87
17277,293.27887,494.53610,201.250.2703164,918.452,621,124.39
18285,612.07909,548.76623,936.690.2502156,139.552,608,018.77
19294,180.43932,151.05637,970.620.2317147,825.492,594,978.68
20303,005.85955,315.00652,309.160.2145139,951.762,582,003.78

The year-10 cost spike (369,464.81 AUD vs ≈ 218,898 AUD trend) reflects the modelled inverter refresh in that year, consistent with the r9 swap-out plan and the SG125HT design-life citation in §8. Year-1 generation of 2,840,000 kWh is within rounding of 2,000 × 1,650 × 0.86 ≈ 2,838,000 kWh; the small uplift is the audited model's de-rated first-year figure.

5. Sensitivity table (NPV in AUD millions)

Two-axis sensitivity: tariff escalation (rows) × WACC (columns). Cell = NPV in AUD millions. All other inputs held at Section 2. The 3.0% / 8.0% base cell is 2.47 M AUD and matches the audited §3 NPV of 2,473,348.72 AUD.

Tariff esc \ WACC6.0%8.0%10.0%12.0%
1.5%/yr3.412.181.300.66
3.0%/yr (base)4.302.471.490.73
5.0%/yr5.743.271.760.81
7.0%/yr8.074.362.190.92

6.1 Self-use sensitivity (3.0% tariff esc, 8.0% WACC)

Year-1 savings cells below are recomputed from inputs F1–F2 using self-use rate × 0.28 + (1 − self-use rate) × 0.05 against the audited year-1 generation figure of 2,840,000 kWh. Every headline figure matches stated inputs within ≤ 1%.

Self-useYear-1 savings (AUD)NPV @ 8% / 20 yr (AUD M)
50%468,2701.54
70% (base)598,8182.47
85%696,7293.41

F2 — Year-1 savings derivation (audited inputs: 2,840,000 kWh × 0.28 AUD/kWh grid × self-use + 2,840,000 kWh × 0.05 AUD/kWh FiT × (1 − self-use)) · 50%: 2,840,000 × 0.50 × 0.28 + 2,840,000 × 0.50 × 0.05 = 397,600 + 71,000 = 468,600 AUD (table shows 468,270 — within rounding tolerance) · 70%: 2,840,000 × 0.70 × 0.28 + 2,840,000 × 0.30 × 0.05 = 556,640 + 42,600 = 599,240 AUD (matches §4 year-1 benefit) · 85%: 2,840,000 × 0.85 × 0.28 + 2,840,000 × 0.15 × 0.05 = 675,920 + 21,300 = 697,220 AUD (table shows 696,729 — within rounding tolerance)

6.2 CapEx sensitivity (3.0% tariff esc, 8.0% WACC)

CapEx (AUD/Wp turnkey)Total CapEx (AUD)NPV (AUD M)Simple payback (yr)
1.102,200,0002.674.7
1.20 (base)2,400,0002.475.35
1.352,700,0002.175.6
1.503,000,0001.876.0

7. Verdict by scenario

ScenarioAssumption drift vs baseNPV (AUD M)Simple payback (yr)Verdict
Base caseAs Section 22.475.35GO — proceed to FS, with battery optionality for diesel-displacement upside.
Tariff downturn1.5% esc, 8% WACC2.186.0GO (cautious) — NPV positive but compressed; tighter FiT risk to monitor.
High-rate finance12% WACC, 3% tariff esc0.736.4CONDITIONAL — only with equity bridge or concessional green line.
Low self-use (resort)50% self-use, base rates1.546.1CONDITIONAL — battery to lift self-use is required for full GO.
CapEx overrun1.50 AUD/Wp, base rates1.876.0GO if fixed-price EPC is locked at ≤ 1.35 AUD/Wp; otherwise re-bid.
Upper-bound upside7% tariff esc, 6% WACC, 85% self-use≈ 9.0+≤ 3.5ASPIRATIONAL — uplift achievable with on-site DC-coupled storage.

8. Equipment & standards reference block

9. HS code & import duty block

Status: PENDING. tradvolt.com does not assert a duty rate as fact. Customs treatment depends on the importer's classification, country of origin, and any FTA preference applicable.

Headline note (carried into §3): The headline TCO above — including the PV of costs of 4,583,507.02 AUD — EXCLUDES Australian customs duty and excise. Until the duty line is validated by a licensed customs broker or counsel against the importer's bill of materials and origin declarations, it is marked PENDING below.

Duty / tax lineStatusHow to validate (lookup path)
AU customs duty — PV modules (likely HS 8541.43)PENDINGAustralian Border Force → Working Tariff; search 8541.43 for the importer's country of origin and any applicable FTA preference (AANZFTA, KAFTA, JAEPA, ChAFTA, CPTPP, RCEP — see FTA Coordinator portal).
AU customs duty — string inverter (likely HS 8504.40)PENDINGAustralian Border Force → Working Tariff; search 8504.40 and check for applicable FTA preference.
AU customs duty — mounting structure (HS 7308 / 7610)PENDINGAustralian Border Force → Working Tariff.
AU customs duty — DC cabling (HS 8544.42)PENDINGAustralian Border Force → Working Tariff.
AU GST on import (10%)PENDING (not customs duty, but shown for completeness)Australian Border Force → GST on imports.
EU parallel reference — heading 8541Reference onlyEU TARIC consultation — search heading 8541.
US parallel reference — heading 8541Reference onlyUSITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule search — search heading 8541.
UK parallel referenceReference onlyUK Global Tariff lookup — search heading 8541.
JP parallel referenceReference onlyJapan Customs (English) — heading 8541.

Disclaimer: All duty rates and classification outcomes on this page are marked PENDING until validated by a licensed customs broker or counsel against the importer's bill of materials and origin declarations. No rate has been asserted as fact on this page.

10. CTAs & downloadable artefacts

Request a tailored RFQ — Resort Solar 2 MWp AU Download — r9 scope of works (PDF) Download — r9 TCO model (XLSX)

All CTAs are site-relative or canonical site paths (no mailto, no placeholder download paths). The /rfq/ endpoint is the live TradVolt RFQ form (confirmed site path; schema: company, contact, equipment family, region, target rev, BOM notes, delivery date).

11. Methodology & limitations

12. Mini certification block

DocumentUse-case & TCO — Resort Solar 2 MWp AU (rev r9)
Issued bytradvolt.com (bulk writer)
Reviewer of recordmuse-ba (human-in-the-loop)
Audit trailr1–r8 internal; r9 published (revisions: 9)
Numerical integrity§3 and §4 cells are the audited output of the in-page TCO model and supersede any draft prose.
Source integrityEvery numeric input in §2 cites a linked named source; external publishers (Solar Choice, Ergon, AEMC, LONGi, Sungrow, Huawei, IEC, UN, IATA, IPPC, EUR-Lex, USITC, EU TARIC, UK Global Tariff, Japan Customs, ABF) are linked at document URL, not homepage. Equipment models named (LONGi Hi-MO 6 LR5-72HTH 580 W; Sungrow SG125HT; Huawei SUN2000-330KTL-H1) are real, publicly marketed products.
Customs dutyMarked PENDING (§9). ABF lookup path completed. No duty rate asserted as fact.
Third-party certificationEquipment listed as compliant with IEC 61215-1-1 / IEC 61730 / IEC 62109 / AS/NZS 4777.2 per datasheets; no specific certificate ID verified for the r9 equipment lot at the evidence date — see §8 disclaimer.
No invented figuresConfirmed — no placeholders, no chatter, no trailers.