Tools

Community Solar Simulator

Size a cooperative solar project: generation, savings, tax incentives, FENOGE (national clean-energy fund) co-financing and 25-year cash flow.

Project parameters

Choose an archetype or a department to start from documented values, then adjust each variable to your case.

Community Solar Simulator

Return on investment for your cooperative

Results

— Annual generation (kWh)
— Total annual savings (COP)
— Monthly savings per household (COP)
— Gross investment / CAPEX (COP)
— FENOGE co-financing (COP)
— Net investment after FENOGE (COP)
— Income tax deduction, Ley 1715 (COP)
— VAT exclusion, Ley 1715 (COP)
— Effective cost after incentives (COP)
— Annual O&M (COP)
— Payback period
— CO2 avoided (tonnes/year)
— Project IRR with FENOGE
— Project IRR without FENOGE

These figures are the project IRR — the return on the community's energy savings. They are not the institutional investor IRR, which the financial model places at 8-12% (see financial model). Both figures are calculated after the Ley 1715 (renewable energy incentives law) tax incentives; the only difference between them is FENOGE co-financing. They are therefore not comparable with the 8-12% range "without co-financing" from the financial model, which is calculated on gross investment and without incentives. 25-year cash flow, 2% annual degradation and 2% annual O&M on CAPEX. Does not include inverter replacement, insurance or cost of financing, because no project source documents those figures — their absence makes these returns optimistic. Indicative figures; they do not constitute an offer or investment advice.

25-year cumulative cash flow

Cumulative project cash flow, in millions of COP. Point 0 is the effective cost (net investment minus Ley 1715 incentives); each year adds degraded energy savings at 2% per year, minus O&M. The two lines are the same project: the only difference between them is FENOGE co-financing. Both are net of tax incentives.

Who pays the gross investment?

Breakdown of gross investment (CAPEX) into the four sources the model calculates: FENOGE co-financing, income tax deduction and VAT exclusion from Ley 1715, and the effective cost borne by the cooperative. The four add up to exactly the CAPEX. This is not a breakdown by equipment, installation and permits: no project source documents that split, and the data contract prohibits estimating it.

What this model does not include

Inverter replacement (typically at mid-life), insurance, cost of financing and property tax are not modeled, because no project source documents a figure for them. Their absence makes the return shown optimistic. The payback is calculated on first-year savings, before O&M and before degradation, so it is somewhat shorter than what the IRR implies.

The figure you see is the project IRR

The cash flow runs 25 years with 2% annual degradation and 2% of CAPEX for O&M. The IRR the simulator returns is the return on the community's energy savings — not the institutional investor IRR, which the financial model places at 8-12% on a different basis. Do not compare them directly.