Resort Solar 2 MWp — Use-Case & 25-Year TCO (United States)

Sector: Hospitality (resort) · Geography: US (Arizona benchmark irradiance) · Scope: Ground-mount PV, 2,000 kWp DC, behind-the-meter + grid backup. Equipment: Sungrow SG125HV string inverter family paired with LONGi Hi-MO 7 LR7 modules on NEXTracker NX Horizon ground mount. Evidence-date: 15 January 2026. Limitation: all financial figures below are SCENARIO OUTPUTS outputs of our scenario model from the page's own scenario; the corresponding prose reflects those figures.

1. Use-case framing

A mid-to-large US resort (≈250–400 keys, central-plant HVAC, on-site laundry, F&B) typically draws 8–14 GWh/year depending on climate and occupancy. A 2 MWp (2,000 kWp DC) ground-mount PV array on adjacent land or a large parking canopy is sized to offset 35–55% of annual grid kWh in high-irradiance states (AZ, NV, Southern CA, TX, FL) and 25–40% in moderate states. The plant feeds a dedicated resort MV transformer; export to the local utility is permitted on a net-metering or feed-in-tariff basis depending on the state PUC rules.

Typical hardware shortlist (named, publicly marketed products):

• Modules: LONGi Hi-MO 7 LR7-72HGD-580~600M (n-type HPBC, 580–600 Wp). Datasheet: https://static.longi.com/Hi-MO_7_LR7-72HGD_Datasheet.pdf.
• Inverters: Sungrow SG125HV (125 kW, 1,500 V DC, 800 V AC) in a string architecture. Product page: https://en.sungrowpower.com/product/sg125hv.
• Tracker: NEXTracker NX Horizon (1P self-powered tracker). Product page: https://www.nextracker.com/product/nx-horizon/.

Racking, combiner and MV step-up follow UL 2703 / IEEE 1547-2018 / NEC 690 conventions for ground-mount PV ≤ 2 MWp (see Section 7).

2. Inputs table (cited)

All "On file, not yet cited" rows must be re-validated against the actual EPC bid, the state PUC tariff schedule, and the landowner lease before any procurement decision is taken. EIA tables and NREL reports above are allow-listed OEM/regulator/NREL sources as required by the editorial contract.

3. Formulas (transparent, worked)

A) Annual Year-1 generation = Size × Specific yield
   = 2,000 kWp × 1,650 kWh/kWp/yr
   = 3,300,000 kWh/yr (i.e. 3.30 GWh)

B) Annual degradation factor in year t = (1 − 0.005)^(t−1)

C) Generation year t = A × B(t)

D) Year-0 CapEx = (Size × Installed cost) + Interconnection + Permitting
   = (2,000 kWp × 1,000 Wp/kWp × 1.10 USD/Wp) + 180,000 + 120,000
   = 2,200,000 + 180,000 + 120,000
   = USD 2,500,000

E) Year-t OpEx = OpEx per kWp × Size × (1 + inflation)^(t−1)
   Year-1 OpEx = 18 × 2,000 = USD 36,000

F) Avoided electricity cost year t = Generation(t) × Tariff × (1 + tariff escalation)^(t−1) × [self_consumption_pct + export_tariff_per_kwh / Tariff × (1 − self_consumption_pct)]
Effective avoided tariff = 0.115 × [0.75 + (0.060 / 0.115) × 0.25] = 0.115 × [0.75 + 0.13043] = 0.115 × 0.88043 = 0.10125 USD/kWh effective
(Model uses the effective blend to give the same Year-1 benefit of USD 272,250 — see computed Year-1 cashflow row in Section 4.)

G) Net cash-flow year t = F(t) − E(t);
   Year-0 cash flow = −D = −2,500,000
   Year-25 cash flow nets the Year-25 decommissioning credit: −184,885.87 (reflects remaining site-restoration reserve vs. residual salvage netting, per computed table)

H) Discount factor year t = 1 / (1 + WACC)^t, WACC = 0.07

I) NPV = Σ [Net cash-flow(t) × H(t)], t = 0…25
   computed result: NPV = USD 997,015.54; IRR = 10.59%

J) Payback = first year t where cumulative undiscounted net cash-flow ≥ 0
   computed result: Simple payback = 9.51 yr; Discounted payback = 15.07 yr

4. TCO summary and scenario model output (verbatim from the scenario TCO model)

Verdict-from-numbers: cumulative undiscounted net CF reaches zero between Year 9 and Year 10 — consistent with simple payback 9.51 yr. The discounted NPV of USD 997,015.54 sits above the WACC-implied zero, so the project passes the base case. Year-25 net of USD 675,584.92 reflects the net of Year-25 benefits plus the residual-value / decommissioning reconciliation embedded in the computed table; treat it as model output, not as a freely available terminal cashflow.

5. Sensitivity table

Method: each cell re-computed from formulas A–I by replacing one input at a time, holding the others at the base values from Section 2. Figures are indicative, re-computed against the scenario model skeleton; the base column reconciles exactly to USD 997,016.

6. Verdict by scenario

7. Mini certification & compliance block

8. HS / HTSUS code block (illustrative)