{"id":4502,"date":"2017-03-16T13:47:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T18:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarprojectbuilder.org\/?page_id=4502"},"modified":"2023-07-17T12:38:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T17:38:41","slug":"howtouse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/howtouse\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Welcome to Solar Project Builder!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This site hosts our easy-to-use online Solar Finance Simulator. The tool was built to develop the capacity of tax-exempt and taxable entity personnel to analyze, compare, and define investment strategies that meet their needs and advance photovoltaic (PV) investments in the public and private sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/236639183\/5b3f53ab4a\"><strong>Click here to watch<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0a brief five minute demonstration video of the Solar Finance Simulator.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch the video below for an in-depth review of the Solar Finance Simulator<\/strong>, including explanation of input fields,\u00a0how to use help, creating an account; along with a comparative analysis of single project\u00a0modeled 3 ways (direct ownership, debt financed, and power purchase agreement).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/264099060\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/264099060\">SolarProjectBuilder_Demo_033018v2<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user10226437\">MREA<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tool<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users can input their own basic solar project values to simulate and compare long-term financial projections for four types of solar PV investment, including direct ownership, power purchase agreement (PPA), debt financing, and operating lease. Results are presented in demonstrative tables and graphs outlining key financial values and timelines including lifetime benefit, internal rate of return, net present value, and cash flow projections. To facilitate greater understanding of these types of transactions, inputs, outputs, and resulting graphs are accompanied by supporting information explaining key terms and linking to external resources. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The tool\u2019s versatility allows it to be used in a variety of ways. Before a site assessment, the tool can estimate cash-flow projections using basic financial assumptions. After an assessment, users can simulate a more accurate prediction using new information. Users can also run the tool to compare and validate proposals received through competitive solicitation. Or, by analyzing multiple model runs, users can learn how specific variables influence project outcomes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users can find definition of terms and other guidance by clicking on the question mark icons next to input and output cells. If a user wants to edit their inputs without having to enter all project information again, they can do so by using the \u201cBACK\u201d buttons at the top and bottom of the web page. Note that this button is on the web page and not embedded within your browser. If a user clicks the back button using their browser, they will need to enter all project information again before rerunning the tool.<br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users who wish to save their project information may do so by downloading the PDF or CSV files of project results. The buttons to download the PDF and CSV files &#8211; \u201cDOWNLOAD PDF\u201d and \u201cDOWNLOAD CSV\u201d &#8211; appear at the top and bottom of the results page next to the \u201cBACK\u201d buttons. A downloaded CSV file will show tabular data. A downloaded PDF will show tabular and graphical data. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Users<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tool is available to any public tax-exempt entity (municipalities, counties, K-12 school districts, state agencies, and some universities and colleges), non-profit organizations, taxable commercial business, or private colleges interested in modeling the economic and financial aspects of solar PV investments. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"overflow-x: auto;\">\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th><strong>Model<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Tax Status<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Municipality<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>University<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>State<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Hospital<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"2\">Direct Ownership<\/td>\n<td>Tax-Exempt<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Taxable<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"2\">Debt Financing<\/td>\n<td>Tax-Exempt<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Taxable<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td rowspan=\"2\">PPA<\/td>\n<td>Tax-Exempt<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Taxable<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Operating Lease<\/td>\n<td>Taxable<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users have the option to create a user profile, allowing them to save, access, and export their simulation results in the future. Users that do not choose to create a user profile are still able to use the tool, but may not save or access their results at a later time. At the end of each simulation, all users have the option to print or export data. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To assist user experience of the tool, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association has developed sample projects for users to apply in the absence of, or in addition to, their own project numbers:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DO-Tax-Exempt.pdf\">Direct Ownership as a Tax-Exempt Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/PPA_20Yr_Tax-Exempt.pdf\">PPA (20 Year Term) as a Tax-Exempt Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/PPA_20Yr_7YrFlip_Tax-Exempt.pdf\">PPA (20 Year Term w\/ 7 Year Flip) as a Tax-Exempt Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DF_Tax-Exempt.pdf\">Debt<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DF_Tax-Exempt.pdf\"> Financing as a Tax-Exempt Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DO-Taxable.pdf\">Direct Ownership as a Taxable Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/PPA_Taxable_20Yr-1.pdf\">PPA (20 Year Term) as a Taxable Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/PPA-20-Yr-7Yr-Flip_Taxable.pdf\">PPA (20 Year Term w\/ 7 Year Flip) as a Taxable Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DF_Taxable.pdf\">Debt Financing as a Taxable Entity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/OL-Taxable.pdf\">Operating Lease as a Taxable Entity<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Assistance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The MREA has significant experience working with tax-exempt and taxable entities pursuing solar energy, including through <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gosparc.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SolSmart<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.solarinyourcommunity.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solar in Your Community Challenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.growsolar.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grow Solar Partnership<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.solarendowment.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solar Endowment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are able to provide assistance with project scoping, community engagement, site assessments, economic feasibility analysis, revolving loan fund and loan loss reserve fund feasibility studies, project aggregation, procurement, and training opportunities. For more information, please inquire at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:info@midwestrenew.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PVhelp@midwestrenew.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Solar Finance Simulator\u00a0and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www.solarprojectbuilder.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were developed by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) in partnership with Sustainable Capital Advisors (SCA) and Future Web Studio with support <\/span>of the U.S. Department of Energy under Award Number DE-EE0006910.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The MREA was founded in 1990 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization promoting renewable energy and sustainable living through education and demonstration. Today, the organization still upholds those ideals as they work with universities, communities, and residents to advance renewable energy investment and deployment. For more information about the MREA, please visit www.midwestrenew.org. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For questions or specific feedback, please contact: <\/span><a href=\"mailto:info@midwestrenew.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">info@midwestrenew.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to Solar Project Builder! This site hosts our easy-to-use online Solar Finance Simulator. The tool was built to develop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4502","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4502"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5201,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4502\/revisions\/5201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.solarprojectbuilder.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}