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Sunulator User Guide Sunulator User Guide

1. e Loan Interest Click the yellow cell and enter an interest rate o The annual payment is automatically calculated It is not easy to gain accreditation as a retailer on an Australian electricity grid Costs will be high for initial setup and annual operations Emerging alternatives may be more realistic for example operating under an umbrella retailer organisation or gaining an exemption as an embedded network With the community retailer option there is no external retailer to pay a feed in tariff Instead the community retailer manages the electricity exported to the grid Sunulator allows a single tariff for which the community group can sell this electricity For example the community retailer might sign up local community members and become their billing retailer Retailer variables RetailEstablish Costs to set up as an electricity retailer 5 1 000 000 Retail Mgt Annual retail operations inc prudentials 5 100 000 RetailTariff Retail value of each kWh sold to public ck WH 50 15 e Retail Establishment Cost Enter a cost as a one off amount e Retail Management Cost Enter an annual cost e Retail Tariff Enter an amount per kWh for which exported electricity will be sold This continues for the entire horizon even if ownership transfers to the consumer Page 37 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide When comparing returns from different investm
2. folder cell Filename Folder 2 1 4 1 What s a NEM 12 file The NEM12 format is defined by AEMO http www aemo com au Electricity Retail and Metering Metering Services Meter Data File Format NEM12 files are XML text files and can be opened in a text editor or a web browser Here s a sample each row with the header 300 contains a date then 48 kWh values separated by commas ataserv02 Files 7 Policy and Projects Energy Projects Projects in Operation Electricity Simul Internet Explorer B WataservO2 Files Policy and Pr O gt 4 ataservO2 Files Policy an gt A 03 lt xml version 1 0 encoding utf 8 gt A lt ase aseXML xmins ase urn aseXML r25 xmins xsi http www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema instance xsi schemaLocation urn aseXML r25 http www nemmco com au aseXML schemas r25 aseXML_r25 xsd gt lt Header gt lt Transactions gt lt Transaction transactionDate 2013 09 30T12 04 29 000 10 00 transactionID MTS_298243345 gt lt MeterDataNotification version r25 gt lt CSVIntervalData gt 100 NEM12 201309301202 CPNETMDP CONTACTA 200 6100000000 E1E2 E1 E1 N1 B3111972 KWH 30 20131011 300 20120303 0 032 0 035 0 040 0 038 0 034 0 033 0 032 0 034 0 037 0 040 0 036 0 031 0 032 0 039 0 049 0 243 0 103 0 500 0 20120304000000 000344 525 300 20120304 0 039 0 033 0 030 0 032 0 033 0 037 0 038 0 031 0 032 0 034 0 035 0 041 0 039 0 032 0 031 0 029 0 101 0 500 0 20120
3. from a multi year data set Months are selected so that the year as a whole is typica Page 61 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM
4. w U You can select a specific date within the simulation period using the drop down box in the table Alternatively you can select an entire season to display an averaged generation This is useful for understanding how batteries are affecting the system Grid import export by interval Energy kWh BAU E 5kW 5kW4kWhBuff 5kW4kWhOpt 4kWh Page 51 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet contains charts and tables to help visualise the cost impact of scenarios This chart gives a quick indication of a solar system s bill impact e A large positive number represents large annual bills paid to the grid retailer e Anegative number means that feed in tariff payments outweigh the bills for grid import Note that this does not distinguish between community ownership options it only represents the consumer owned case The Feed in tariff is always applied even for systems larger than 100 kW REC revenue from LGCs is not included Total estimated grid bill cost T i l i i i l SkW SkW4kWhBuff SkW4kWhOpt 4kWh This chart has the same data as the one above but shows seasonal patterns in the bill cost This is useful for understanding the seasonal impacts of differen
5. No part of this report may be reproduced without acknowledgement of source ATA Energy Projects Team Prepared by Andrew Reddaway Damien Moyse Alternative Technology Association Level 1 39 Little Collins St Melbourne VIC 3000 61 3 9639 1500 61 3 9639 5814 www ata org au Promoting Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation since 1980 KP091 www ata org au 19 August 2015 ATA s Sunulator User Guide DOCUMENE IH Orma ON ass E E 2 1 0 INTOUCH ON esise E eee eee eee eee ee eee 4 1d PANO Ys EE E E EE E E sade sea E A A E T E A A 4 1 2 POC A ONS a pe ien E E E E A EAE A A N 4 1 3 OPO ear a E E E E E E S 5 1 4 System requirements to use Sunulator esessssssessseeressressrrresererssreressrerssreressrereserreserereserresene 5 1 5 Uere a eaS nn ee ne en er ae ee eee ee eee 5 1 6 Wna Cin Se SUM LON ereer EEE EEA EEE E 5 1 7 WAO ie WE ta ca tirsesactaannan e csi E E ATEA E E E A R 5 1 8 AV 16 O e e EE E A E E E 5 1 9 Jer TU a E A A E A 6 EIO OTIS INO IS e E E 6 2 0 Electricity CONSUMDUO Mi csassaissnnsraia E E 7 2 1 Entering consumption information into Sunulator s sesssssseseessresssreressreresrrressrrrsseereserersseeee 7 30 ridt Sa E a 14 3 1 PrE e E E TEN E EE ETE AEE 14 3 2 TMEO USE TALITTS enpa E 15 3 3 Anytime peak demand tariffs ccceccccccsseccccessececeesececeeeecceceenccessueceeseneceeseeecessuecetseneess 17 3 4 Gaa e KINGS OF Call i AT AE A E EE AEE EE E E 20 AO SMa MOG Cl a E E
6. a 0 J 4 0 4 5 0 J i In a rapidly evolving energy sector electricity tariffs are difficult to predict A starting point is the forecasts by the Australian Energy Market Operator AEMO In 2015 AEMO forecast that future retail prices would remain quite flat As the Australian Electricity Market Commission s Power of Choice report starts to influence distributor tariffs ATA expects that retail bills will tend to include more demand charges at the expense of fixed and energy charges This is the fixed portion of the retail grid import bill ie standing charges If you expect this to increase on average by 1 per year then enter 1 into each yellow cell in this column The cumulative effect for each year is shown in the white column FixedBill to the right For example e A scenario is using the tariff type Fixed Rates e Inthe section Tariffs you entered a fixed charge of 1 00 per day e Inthis worksheet you entered a 1 increase in each future year e In year ten the daily fixed charge will be 1 110 5 1 11 This affects the variable portion of the retail grid import bill ie charges per kWh Use this column as you do the Fixed Bill column 12 http www aemo com au Electricity Planning Forecasting National Electricity Forecasting Report media Files Electricity Planning Reports NEFR 2015 NEFR 202015 20Economic 20data ashx Page 39 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Pr
7. e Select an option from the drop down menu e The solar system is owned by the household or business who consumes energy on the premises e Solar generation nets off against consumption just like for a standard household system e Acommunity group installs a solar system on a site with significant consumption e A meter is installed to measure the output of the solar inverter e The group signs an agreement with the electricity consumer to purchase the electricity e Solar generation nets off against consumption just like for a standard household system e Excess generation is sold to a retailer via a feed in tariff and passed on to the group e RECs are dealt with by the community group e Acommunity group lends money to a site with significant consumption e The electricity consumer pays to have a solar system installed e The electricity consumer receives benefits on their electricity bill including feed in credits e The electricity consumer repays the loan to the community group e Up front RECs discount the consumer s system cost e Any ongoing RECs are dealt with by the community group e Acommunity group gains accreditation as an electricity retailer e The group installs a solar system with metering to feed into the grid e fthe system is on a roof the group may also sell electricity that offsets consumption by the on site consumer e The group signs up members of the public to switch from their current retailer Page 3
8. it s greater than 10 degrees To some extent tilts greater than 10 degrees self clean when it rains For southern parts of Australia a tilt in the vicinity of 30 degrees is good to maximise total annual generation You can verify this with Sunulator North orientation maximizes annual generation and environmental benefits However it may not give the greatest economic return An east facing array will generate more on summer mornings and west facing on summer evenings The value of generation at times of onsite electricity consumption may outweigh the value of extra generation that is exported to the grid You can test this in Sunulator You can enter a variety of abbreviations eg North East NorthEast NE etc Or you can enter a compass bearing where north 0 degrees and East 90 degrees Please note that Sunulator expects an orientation based on true north This can vary from magnetic north by up to 15 degrees For more information search declination map Australia on the internet Sunulator also support a dual tracking array in which the panels always point directly at the sun If you have this kind of system enter tracker as the orientation The tilt is ignored Even when facing directly into full sun your solar system will rarely deliver its rated capacity due to factors such as Dirt on the panels Manufacturing variance between panels Thermal derating hot panels generate less
9. BCG GG Evaluating economic feasibility takes some effort so it s easy to lose sight of the project s environmental benefits These are less tangible but are an important driver for some projects Simulation Results Environment Tonnes of carbon dioxide offset annually oe Equivalent number of cars off the road Carbon dioxide offset This is a rough indication using the Australian average emissions intensity of grid electricity generation Cars off the road Another rough estimate assuming typical petrol consumption 7 2 2 1 Other benefits Please note that for a host site in a community solar project additional non quantifiable benefits might include Engagement with the community Enhanced reputation Hedging against rises in future electricity tariffs Page 44 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Simulation Results Key Statistics Export as a of solar generation The proportion of solar generation exported to the grid heavily influences the project s economics as exported energy has a lower value than energy used onsite Here a lower number is better This section considers the economic impact on the electricity consumer If the user has selected a community ownership option such as Community Owned the consumer has no up front investment 7 500 1 477 2219 penal an repeynertirtyesinnoneny PPP Annual cost
10. E 21 4 1 NS e A E E A E E EEE 21 4 2 SOl E E A E E A 22 4 3 BATEO inea E E e a iA 24 4 4 Banery RV I ed NPU ieii neire eN anA N EEE E a e a N 29 5 0 COSTS sicasececsnssceccunsesaauiacanecwuneseasesaatisavancssaeiiasacensusssesecunsesasgucna sda vemaasaenacaueaseuanieacausoeianumenes 30 5 1 Maim Cost Variables SNGEL sissien is ea E E E EAE E ETE 30 5 2 COMMUNITY OPtlONS cccccseccseccseccsscceeccscceuecescceneeeseeeseceecssecseeesseesaeeseeseeseeeseeseeeeeeneeeaees 34 5 3 CAI Va OS acca se tec cs eee ssn chee rataecasietnnsunesanansunccaeantestoeqat cacaeine RE 36 5 4 Future variable Changes seieren a A E a a a 39 6 0 Run SONUIATO cscs E a 41 2O SUNUIATON recate aren E E E EE 43 7 1 EUe aE E E EE E E S E A EN E E E E E uct 43 T2 RE A U EE E E E E E E A 44 7 3 Consumption vs Generation Charts sisccsiciodeancdudanasascadsaiebedaarnevoudirdeesGrncnasaienendteanandonitvewwasees 50 7 4 Dolar MPa ECRI aa a T E E E wneud EN 52 7 5 PIM aN Gla Proje Oieee E E A 54 Appendix A Sourcing information on electricity consumption sessesessesessssesssoesssoessssesssseseeseo 55 7 6 Kece ME do a0 b gt e E R 55 Page 3 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 7 7 Manual readings of the electricity meter cccccccessecccceseccecesccecsusececeeneceeseuseceseuneceesegeces 55 7 8 EE GEICO Dee E E aaatorcasducaceessenrosare reas E 56 7 9 ROUE MESTINE S A a E EA 56 AU
11. Up e d e A E ai usncleagadessunaenen aannestauhs 56 Appendix B Present Value example cccsccscscsssscscscsccccccscsccccccscnceccccscscsscececscssecsecscscesescecces 57 Appendix C Peukert effect sesessssessssessssessssesesssosssesesseossssossssoesssossssoessscesssossssoesssoessssesssseo 58 Appendix D battery strategies detaills ccscscsccscscscsccscscccsccscsceccccecscsceecccscuceccecscsceseccecees 59 Appendix E Solar offsets within an interval sccscssscsccscscecsccscsccccccscscsccececscscescecscsceseececces 60 GOS SAU aE EET E E OTE E E 61 1 0 Introduction Sunulator is a simulation tool that can help you plan a grid connected solar battery project Unlike most other solar calculators Sunulator uses half hourly consumption data over a whole year to estimate how much solar generation will be consumed onsite versus exported Based on electricity tariff information it then calculates the impact on your electricity bill and projects the savings up to a 35 year timeframe Financial results include payback period net present value and Return on Investment Sunulator allows you to compare the results for several scenarios for example different solar system sizes battery capacity or panel orientations In Australia most solar installations are owned directly by the electricity consumer eg a home owner Sunulator is designed to assist community organisations to install solar systems vi
12. __ _ Initial SOC Battery charge of charge at the start of the simulation 80 4 3 1 1 Rated Capacity A battery s energy storage capacity is measured in kilowatt hours kWh Most batteries are sold on the basis of their rated or nameplate capacity This is the maximum amount of energy that can be extracted from a full battery when it is discharged at a constant rate over a defined time period eg 100 hours for lead acid batteries The time period is important because when some types of batteries are discharged more quickly a smaller amount of energy can be extracted This is due to the Peukert effect Some batteries do not list capacity in kWh noting only their rated Amp hours or Ah If they also list the nominal battery voltage you can calculate the capacity in kWh by multiplying Ah by the voltage and dividing by 1 000 Eg a 48 volt 800 AH battery has a rated capacity of 38 4 kWh In this cell enter the rated capacity in kWh unless advised otherwise If a scenario has no battery enter zero 6 http www aemo com au News and Events News News 2015 Emerging Technologies Information Pa er page 4 See section 6 Run Sunulator See appendix C for more details Page 24 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 4 3 1 2 Chemistry Batteries store and release energy using chemical reactions which depend on the internal materials The
13. a fair comparison between scenarios such effects can be included on an aggregate basis in this variable These benefits cease if ownership transfers to the consumer and are not included when Sunulator works out the taxable income from the investment Page 36 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Community Ownership variables also for Retail option SolarTariff Charge to consumer for solar gen consumed Sk h 50 25 SolarTariffBasis Charge for all solar gen or only onsite cons AlSolarGen FilGoesTo FiT goes ta the consumer orinvestor These variables apply where the consumer is paying the investors the community group per kWh for electricity supplied by the solar system This arrangement is often called a Power Purchasing Agreement or PPA The payments ceases if ownership transfers to the consumer e Solar Tariff Amount the host site electricity consumer pays to investors per kWh e Solar Tariff Basis Whether the consumer pays for all electricity generated by the solar system or only the portion they consume onsite e Feed in Tariff goes to For electricity that exceeds on site requirements and is exported to the grid do the feed in payments go to the consumer or the investor For the Project Finance option the electricity consumer pays interest to the community group on their up front loan loan vaniables Loaninterest Interest rate forloanto consumer
14. a solar system s greenhouse gas reduction At the time of writing solar systems installed by an accredited supplier are eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates RECs For systems smaller than 100 kW they are known as Small Technology Certificates STCs and can be claimed up front effectively discounting the purchase price This discount is generally managed by the system installer 1 See appendix B and http en wikipedia org wiki Discounted cash flow Discount rate Page 30 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide If your solar installer is providing the STC amount as a discount off the price they should tell you what price they will apply This may be an estimate as the price varies constantly 5 1 1 7 Deeming years This is the number of years of solar generation that are credited for certificates Under current rules this is fifteen years but will decline by one year each year starting in 2017 This is where you enter the capital cost of the solar system including solar panels grid connect solar inverter racking labour switches etc You have four different options e System cost before STC discount and before GST e Cost per watt of solar panel rated capacity before STCs and GST e System cost after STCs and GST o This is useful where you have quotes from solar installers e Cost per watt of solar panel rated capacity after STCs and GST o This is useful
15. factors especially its size relative to the daily amounts of electricity consumption and solar generation Grid import export by interval 3 00 2 50 47 2 00 1 50 4 1 00 0 50 0 00 0 50 79 400 a 4 50 Energy kWh 5kW E 5kWA4AkWhBuff Page 26 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Tariff Optimisation This strategy primarily operates as per Solar Buffer Simple but it also tries to minimise bills by charging the battery from the grid during the morning off peak period if one exists for the tariff It is only applicable if the battery system that s installed enables charging from the grid and does not require a solar system to be included At the start of each day Sunulator looks at the upcoming 24 hours and estimates the best amount of grid charging during the morning off peak period e If it charges too much solar electricity may be spilled to the grid during the day e If it charges too little evening grid imports may be required that could have been avoided Similar to a real world system this estimate will not be perfect since weather conditions and electricity consumption patterns are unpredictable A rules based simulation approach is more realistic than that used by some programs which optimise in the assumption of perfect foresight This chart is the same as the previous one except the scenario uses
16. if the retailer imposes this separately Fixed charges daily Fixed daily charge Demand based daily charge Total daily standing charge 5 0 8800 Fixed charges monthly Total monthly charge eS In the Block Categories section enter the different tariff categories These may show up later in reports For example there may be Off Peak Shoulder and Peak Block categories Categories included in block kwh tallies Retailers often set tariffs in blocks of import for each calendar month For example a business imports 500 kWh in January The first 333 kWh are charged at 24c per kWh then the remaining 167 kWh are charged at 28c per kWh February starts again at 24c per kWh Block thresholds kh per month Blocks apply if the retailer charges a different amount after a tally Each block is additional to the previous block Note a blank threshold is open ended A blank open ended block will apply for all imports exceeding the final threshold Page 15 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Finally below is the table where you enter the cost per kWh You may need to check with the retailer what time the different categories start and end To deal with blocks e f block thresholds are not relevant to you then just use the column AllBlocks e If all your energy is allocated to blocks then use columns Block1 to Block
17. in the table can be copied and pasted into other spreadsheets Total kWh generated by month over the simulation period This shows seasonal patterns in the solar resource affected by tilt and orientation of the array of each scenario Monthly Generation BAU 20kW SOkW 99kW i onl gt sta Sun w U ken o Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total generation over a year compared to annual electricity consumption Generation is broken down into e SolarOffset Solar electricity consumed on site e GridExport Solar electricity exported to the grid This helps in sizing an appropriate solar system Annual generation vs consumption EE Sum of SolarOffset EE Sum of GridExport Sum of Consumption SkW4kWhBuff 5SkW4kWhOpt 4kWh Page 50 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide You can select a specific date within the simulation period using the drop down box in the table Alternatively you can select an entire season to display an averaged generation profile This is useful for understanding the difference between cloudy days and sunny days Daily generation profile by half hourly interval BAU HRSkKW 5kW4kWhBuff SkW4kWhOpt 4kWh at gt oo
18. minute fluctuations in consumption and generation For more information on this issue please see ATA s presentation Solar payback the devil is in the detail at www ata org au ata research Sunulator For greater accuracy of results Sunulator makes an allowance for this effect The level of export depends on the relative size of consumption and generation on a smooth curve For example e Generation consumption export 17 of generation e Generation is 50 of consumption export 9 of generation e Generation is 20 of consumption export 4 of generation e Generation is less than 15 of consumption export 0 If a battery system is present Sunulator assumes that these short term fluctuations are buffered by the battery Page 60 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Energy business A catch all term covering electricity distributors and retailers Electricity distributor The company that owns and manages the local electricity grid Electricity retailer The company that sends bills for grid electricity kilowatt kW A unit of power equal to 1000 Watts For example a microwave oven might consume 1 kW while it is running kilowatt hour kWh A unit of energy For example if a 1 kW microwave runs for 15 minutes it has consumed 0 25 kWh Typical Meteorological Year TMY A data set for a 365 day period composed of months selected ie
19. the system is located Solar systems are metered under a net basis This means that solar generation first goes to meet immediate onsite electricity consumption reducing the metered import from the grid Only the excess if any is recorded by the electricity meter and exported to the grid Electricity exported to the grid typically is worth up to 8c per kWh This is called a Feed in Tariff FiT for small medium sized systems or a Power Purchasing Agreement PPA with the grid electricity retailer By comparison electricity imported from the grid might cost around 25 or 35 cents per kWh Clearly solar generation consumed immediately onsite is worth much more than exports You need to obtain either metered consumption data or general information about site consumption before you can enter it in Sunulator For some tips please see Appendix A Sourcing information on electricity consumption To get up and running quickly you can start with default data Then come back later refine it and re run Sunulator The first worksheet under Consumption gives you this choice a Enter Estimates Bi Copy and paste cl Import text File e Click on the yellow cell to get the drop down list e lf you have detailed metering data in a NEM12 text file from an electricity company select option c e fyou have available detailed metering data in a spreadsheet select option b e Otherwise select option a The
20. 305000000 000347 718 300 20120305 0 077 0 034 0 038 0 041 0 034 0 031 0 034 0 040 0 037 0 031 0 030 0 045 0 053 0 036 0 042 0 032 0 086 0 500 0 20120306000000 000350 049 300 20120306 0 038 0 039 0 040 0 031 0 031 0 034 0 039 0 037 0 030 0 031 0 030 0 038 0 038 0 036 0 048 0 032 0 030 0 500 0 20120307000000 000351 875 300 20120307 0 031 0 038 0 038 0 032 0 035 0 034 0 033 0 035 0 035 0 039 0 040 0 036 0 033 0 040 0 032 0 033 0 036 0 500 0 20120308000000 000353 994 300 20120308 0 031 0 038 0 039 0 039 0 035 0 032 0 034 0 033 0 032 0 034 0 036 0 148 0 197 0 058 0 039 0 038 0 030 0 lt gt Vv Page 13 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 3 0 Grid tariffs An energy tariff defines how the bill will be calculated for electricity imported from the grid Consumers have a choice of tariffs to varying degrees however customers with solar have more limited options than those without Please note that the tariff may be changed when solar is installed you should check this with the electricity retailer Please note that you don t need to fill in every tariff type in Sunulator only the one or two which are relevant for your situation There are some tariffs that cannot be represented perfectly in Sunulator In this case you will have to find the closest approximation Tariffs should be entered inclusive of GST unless noted otherwise These are the simpl
21. 4 e f some energy is in blocks and some is not use all the columns Energy charge per kh Weekdays Mote total kWh charge isthe amount in AllBlocks PLUS the amount inthe relevant block Interval start TimdEnd Time Category allBlocks Blockt_ Block2 _ Block3 Blocks H He bh o I oe w o E img im ae eae 7 I bo E DJ bo Z 0 D o Pir mu La Cc b uu qu La i a a E 5 F i o E an i 4 00 AN 4 30 AM 6 30 AM 7 00 AM aL ol io a Ae in E om un yuo Se lr 5 5 P T a i 14 6 30 AM 700 AM 6 30 AM 700 AN 7 30 AM TILAM 9 00 AM 8 30 AM gan An sj Lm co i au cc E oo La co b oo mu La i zZ 2 3 J 10 11 12 15 15 16 a 1 e You must enter a category and a number in each of the 48 rows o Eg if you only have a single rate you might enter Single e You can copy and paste to speed up data entry o Clicka cell o Select copy from the Excel menu o Drag select a range of cells o Select paste from the Excel menu e There is a separate table for weekends and public holidays Page 16 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide At the time of writing peak demand tariffs are typically only applied to large c
22. 4 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide e The group sells electricity to the public buying any shortfall from other sources e t s assumed that all energy is sold to the public at a single fixed tariff e RECs are dealt with by the community group For more information on these options please refer to the presentation Community solar investment options available at www ata org au ata research Sunulator Page 35 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide These settings depend on which community ownership option you selected on the previous sheet Variables that are not relevant are cross hatched these will not be included in the calculations If you selected Consumer Owned and there is only a single site you can ignore this worksheet pf Scenarioames S S O Variable Info Unit pau feokw sow ookw CommOption Community ownership option Commown Consown _ commOwn cormmown commown General vanables MMeteringinstall Metering installation costs per site oy 1 000 OtherBenefits Overall annual benefits eg carbon offsets 4 1 000 e Years to hand over After this the community group investors hand ownership of the system to the consumer For the remainder of the horizon it s treated as Consumer owned If you enter blank or zero the community group investor own
23. However a solar system can t reduce night time peaks unless a battery is included Demand charge reset basis Mo of daysto average The demand charge is the monthly fixed charge per kW of demand For example if the grocer s demand charge is 9 per kW for December they will be charged 9 40 360 Page 17 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Some tariffs calculate peak demand over an entire calendar year in this case select No Reset Sunulator will calculate peak demand over the entire consumption data which is normally one year The grocer will be billed a demand charge of 360 each month of the year Other tariffs consider each month separately In this case select Monthly Reset For example the grocer will have to pay a demand charge of 360 for December but if their peak demand in April were only 10 kW then their demand charge for April would be only 9 x 10 90 It can be harsh on consumers to calculate the demand charge on a single peak as occasional events can drive bills unexpectedly high Some tariffs instead use the average of several peaks First the peak interval is calculated for each day and then the days are sorted in descending order If your tariff peak calculates demand averaged over 5 days enter 5 for this value For example the grocer s tariff resets monthly and their top 5 demand peaks in December were 40kW on t
24. Losses in the electrical cables and inverter In Sunulator all such factors are allowed for in the single array efficiency number ATA tested Sunulator against generation reported from dozens of real world systems in different locations and found that an efficiency of 80 generally provided a good match Separate to the array efficiency Sunulator also allows for lower generation in future years due to panel ageing Some other solar calculators use a lower efficiency number but this includes an allowance for ageing too If your site suffers from tree or building shading or experiences more cloud cover than the Sunulator location you will need to estimate a lower efficiency to compensate If a scenario includes a second array enter its details in the second array section For the southern hemisphere Based on public data from PvOutput org for all of 2013 running Sunulator with 2013 insolation data gt See sheet 5d Costs future variable changes Page 23 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Batteries can provide several benefits to a grid connected site such as Increase self consumption of solar generation by storing daytime excess for use at night o This reduces the grid electricity bill if the feed in tariff is low Store cheap off peak grid electricity for use during peak times o This reduces the bill if the tariff includes peak and off
25. Sunulator User Guide gt J ul A y B x l S A Alternative Technology Association August 2015 P ATA s Sunulator User Guide E Document Information Document Version SunulatorUserGuide1a01 SunulatorUserGuide1b03 SunulatorUserGuide1c01 SunulatorUserGuide1c02 SunulatorUserGuide1d04 SunulatorUserGuide2a Date 27 5 14 10 6 14 26 6 14 10 6 14 8 9 14 15 8 15 Prepared By Andrew Reddaway Energy Analyst Andrew Reddaway Energy Analyst Andrew Reddaway Energy Analyst Andrew Reddaway Energy Analyst Andrew Reddaway Energy Analys Andrew Reddaway Energy Analyst Reviewed By Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Damien Moyse Energy Projects amp Policy Manager Comments Initial Draft Version 1 Updated for sign convention change don t have to input costs as negative numbers Added a few clarifications time zones inflation etc Updated for new enhancement allow system ownership transfer to consumer after X years Major update for version 4 battery storage extra demand tariff features etc 2015 Alternative Technology Association All rights are reserved
26. a additional investment options e Community organisation installs a system and sells electricity to the host site e Solar system installed via a loan from a community organisation e Community organisation acts as an electricity retailer Economic returns are estimated both for investors and the host site ATA provides Sunulator free of charge for community use at www ata org au ata research Sunulator Since Sunulator s development has been funded by state specific organisations it currently includes locations in the following Australian states and territories New South Wales Victoria Page 4 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Sunulator can be used in other states but a proxy location will have to be selected As additional funding is obtained we hope to support other states in future versions Sunulator is for solar battery systems on sites connected to an electricity grid in Australia It will not produce a detailed solar system design that will need to be done by an accredited designer and or installer Billing and tariff calculations are included to assess the overall financial attractiveness of different options they are approximate and cannot be expected to replicate calculations performed in an electricity retailer s billing system To use Sunulator you must have A reasonably fast stable computer Microsoft Excel 2007
27. alCapacity Battery rated nameplate storage ET ee ee Cost after GST Eee Capital cost after GST eg from a quote NetPerkwhinput Cost per kh capacity after GST eg benchmark S Cost of batteries etc after RECs and GST 5 A useful benchmark is the price for the Tesla daily cycle battery announced as US 3 000 for 7 kWh of usable storage or US 428 per kWh with a 10 year warranty Australian installed pricing is unknown at the time of writing This simply sums the cost of the solar system and the battery system It is generally advisable to clean solar panels occasionally especially if they have a shallow tilt Inspection is also a good idea You can check this with solar installers If the cost is expected to be incurred less frequently eg 5 yearly please convert to an annualised amount You can also include other costs in this cell eg increased premiums for building insurance Annual operational expenses MaintCast4nnual Annual solar maintenance eg cleaning testing S200 SaaS 35 HS SSS SSeS It is assumed that the consumer pays this cost for ConsOwn and ProjFin ownership options and also for the other options after ownership transfers to the consumer Page 32 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Sunulator s cash flows include allowances for equipment replacement with separate categories for e Solar panels e Grid connected so
28. an vary wildly by site For houses this includes e Size of household e Work school patterns e Climate and weather e Electrical appliances e Other energy sources used eg gas e Individual behaviour e Weeks when the house is empty eg holidays For businesses e Size of business e Climate and weather e What electricity is used for eg o Computers o Welders e Working hours e Lunch breaks e Weeks when the business is empty You may have access to information from a site similar to the one you are analysing in Sunulator For accuracy the site should have similar characteristics as listed above Page 56 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix B Present Value example The discount rate is not an actual discount it s just a factor used for financial analysis such as comparing different investments For example e You have 100 to invest e Investments A and B both return a lump sum after a number of years o A returns 150 after 3 years o B returns 170 after 6 years Which investment is better It depends the value you place on a quick return With a 5 discount rate the present value of those returns are e A 150 1 05 1 05 1 05 129 58 e B 170 1 05 1 05 1 05 1 05 1 05 1 05 126 86 So investment A would be preferred A lower discount rate would favour longer term investments so B would
29. any user entry Other inputs have made them irrelevant e CTRL down arrow jumps to the bottom of a filled table CTRL right arrow jumps to the right o Holding down shift selects cells while it jumps e You can copy and paste within yellow cells e You can select a range and use CTRL D to copy down or CTRL R to copy right o But not if the range spans a white cell Sunulator uses several conventions for user entry Sunulator works on Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST This aligns with the time zone for electricity metering data which is AEST within the National Electricity Market NEM When entering times into Sunulator please enter them as AEST When Sunulator is expanded to cover WA and NT which are outside the NEM provision will be made for different time zones Sunulator uses constant dollars so there is no need to inflate future prices by the Consumer Price Index CPI Few prices involved in Sunulator have much relation to CPI For example the biggest driver of grid electricity tariffs is investment in the distribution networks which can double in a decade then stay flat for a decade Solar panel prices have gone through periods of dramatic price decreases Page 6 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 2 0 Electricity consumption The economic benefit of a solar battery system depends on the level of electricity consumption at the site where
30. chemistries currently supported by Sunulator are 1 Flooded 2 Gel 3 Absorbed Glass Mat AGM 4 Lithium The first three are all variants of lead acid chemistry Flooded batteries require regular maintenance such as checking water levels and are also prone to discharge flammable hydrogen gas Despite their relatively low cost they are rarely used for grid connected battery systems Gel and AGM are sealed batteries that do not discharge gas unless a failure has occurred and require minimal maintenance Lithium batteries have many advantages over lead acid Higher efficiency at fast rates of charge or discharge Do not discharge gas o Some products are marketed for indoor use Lighter weight These advantages have seen them already dominate categories such as laptop computers cordless tools and electric cars On the other hand they Have little track record powering whole houses or businesses Require special battery management systems to manage individual cells Are less familiar to solar installers and electricians Have been expensive There are many different flavours of lithium chemistry all currently available Within the Lithium lon category fall chemistries such as nickel manganese cobalt and nickel cobalt aluminium Lithium Ferrous Phosphate LiFePo4 is strictly also a type of Lithium lon chemistry but often categorised separately Click on the cell and select an option from the drop down lis
31. come out on top In Sunulator we use the discount rate for a variety of results eg to calculate a more correct payback period rather than just simple payback Page 57 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix C Peukert effect To be completed Page 58 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix D battery strategies details To be completed Tariff Optimisation At the start of each day Sunulator sets battery tactics for the day First it estimates some values Electricity consumption for the day This is assumed to be the same as one week ago Electricity consumption during the off peak period Solar generation during the day This is assumed to be the same as yesterday The amount of energy that would be charged into the battery during the day due to solar generation if there was no consumption 9900 18 Better approaches are possible and may be implemented in some battery systems Possible future Sunulator enhancement Page 59 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix E Solar offsets within an interval When solar generation approaches the level of on site consumption real world systems commonly record some export as well as import This is caused by minute to
32. count rate It s included for comparison purposes only the payback period see below is superior 7 2 5 5 Payback period Cash flow is initially negative due to the up front investment Each year the consumer receives a positive return from the project discounted using the user nominated discount rate At some point the cumulative cash flow turns positive The year in which this occurs is the payback period A blank payback period indicates that the investment takes longer than 35 years to pay back 7 2 5 6 Return on Investment ROI Return on Investment provides an overall percentage return for the project which is useful when comparing projects against each other or against alternative investments such as bank accounts It uses the Internal Rate of Return IRR method which determines the discount rate at which the cash flow over the user defined financial horizon would be zero This measure does not use the user nominated discount rate For some situations ROI IRR cannot be calculated for example if the project achieves payback in the first year 7 2 5 7 Levelised Cost of Energy LCOE LCOE estimates the overall cost of generating electricity from the solar system per kWh This is useful to compare against other projects and also against retail electricity costs per kWh It is calculated by dividing total generation over the user defined financial horizon by the total up front and capital costs for the project both discou
33. d you enter 200 500 40 Period startTime__ EndTime__ EnergyPerce Hours e You can change the label of each period this may show up in reports later on e You can change the start time of each period e The end time of each period is defined by the start time of the next period e You must ensure the total is 100 Page 9 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 2 1 2 3 Daily Consumption for Non Weekdays It is common for weekends and public holidays to have different consumption from normal weekdays This worksheet is where you account for that 50 PubHol platstandby e Flat Morning Flat Lunchtime Flat Afternoorn Flat Might Flat Standb e 6If you choose WeekdayFactor you must enter a factor o This day will have same shape as a standard weekday but a different total e The other options are the labels you entered on the previous worksheet o This day will have constant electricity consumption Date ranges with low consumption There may be times of the year when consumption is abnormally low for example business shut downs or holidays You can use this section to reflect this effect label Start fEnd Option Factor _ e Enter range of continuous dates on a separate row e Choose a label for the date range eg XmasMaint e Enter start and end date for the date range e Select the option and the factor if required as for t
34. eak period for the energy charge All other times will be charged at the off peak rate Weekday PeakStart PeakEnd StartTime ozo 23 00 oroo 23 00 roof 23 00 oo 23 00 roof 23 00 oro 23 00 ooj 23 00 po pi 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 23 00 In addition to the demand charge and energy charges some tariffs also impose a fixed charge This is a static dollar amount that applies even if no electricity is consumed Enter this amount in the cell Fixed charge monthly A fixed charge has the same effect as a minimum demand level so most tariffs will not impose both a fixed charge as well as a minimum demand Some tariffs have different settings in summer to the rest of the year In this case enter the summer values in the column ValueSummer To define which months are covered by the summer period fill in the table Definition of summer period Months will be considered outside summer unless they contain Y or y Definition of summer period ov Dec ar Fe Page 19 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Some consumers have a special tariff for appliances on separate electrical circuits typically electric hot water systems that can only be run at off peak times during the night Sometimes these tariffs are just called off peak tariffs Controlled loads are metered separately from the re
35. ents the tax implications can often be important The community group can claim depreciation of the solar system as a tax deduction This reduces the taxable income investors need to declare on dividends they receive from the community group Reports show this effect after you run Sunulator As with other areas in Sunulator the community group will need to seek professional advice on this Tax related variables DeprecEffTaxRatg Effective tax rate for depreciation purposes 32 5 DeprecAssetLife Asset life of solar system for depreciation No DeprecSalvageVal Salvage value of solar system for depreciation cee e Effective tax rate This depends on the finances of the community group e Asset life Typically 20 years seek professional advice e Salvage value Requires professional advice Page 38 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Variables are likely to change over Sunulator s 35 year cash flow projection In this worksheet you can allow for this by entering percentage changes for several variables for each year of the horizon These percentages have a compound effect unless noted otherwise Incremental Changes FixedBill 101 0 102 0 103 0 104 1 T a I I I I 105 1 106 2 107 2 108 3 109 4 110 5 5 111 6 69 5 l1ll6 LOO 0 100 0 5 I I el 2 3 3 I I L 4 6 8 Ls 0 5 1 0 1 5 2 0
36. est and most common type of electricity tariff in Australia If in doubt use this tariff initially You can always change tariffs later and re run Sunulator Worksheet 3b Flat Rate Tariffs Flat rate tariffs do not vary throughout the day Flat Rate consumption tariff Fixed daily charge Fixed monthly charge Energy charge per k Wh e Even if the site is importing no electricity a fixed charge will be applied e The fixed monthly charge is intended as an alternative to the daily If you enter both daily and monthly they will both be applied and have a cumulative effect So only do this if you have both monthly and daily charges e Some commercial tariffs state the fixed costs as several components you will need to add them together for a total monthly and or daily cost e You might need to convert some annual or quarterly charges into monthly values too e Energy charge per kWh is multiplied by the consumption in kWh to give the energy cost Page 14 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet covers tariffs where the energy charge per kWh varies throughout the day eg e Time of Use ToU e Peak Offpeak e Flexible pricing It also covers tariffs that have a block structure eg inclining block The fixed charges section is equivalent to the one for flat rate tariffs please see above The Demand based daily charge is only relevant
37. exception is systems on gross metering contracts such as those available in NSW and the ACT for systems installed between 2009 and 2011 The Feed in Tariff can vary by state electricity distributor retailer and date of solar installation Some existing systems receive a feed in tariff higher than consumption tariff eg the 60c Premium Feed in Tariff previously available in Victoria but closed to new entrants Page 7 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide With Enter Estimates you directly type information on electricity consumption Then when you run Sunulator it will construct a half hourly consumption dataset consistent with this information for the date range you specified in the previous sheet This worksheet lets you input the variation throughout the year as a monthly consumption number A simple option is to obtain an average monthly consumption from the last electricity bill e Find the kWh total and divide by the number of months included in the bill Workshet t 2b Enter Estimates Monthly Consumption How much electricity does this consumer typically use in each month This can be obtained from electricity bills or metering data State nsw For public holidays ete Monthly Energy Consumption kh Chart consumption by month Month Consumption _ Percentage lan 6 0 Feb 8 0 Mar 2 0 Apr 8 0 May 9 0 o un 8 0 pul 7 5 Au
38. f hour interval try using an Excel pivot table to format it into the required layout Worksheet 2c Consumption Data Copy and If you have gdhosen to enter consumption data by half ho Units kWh Interval Lis midnight to 0 30am ideal entena fuli year of history e Switch to your separate spreadsheet o Select the data and copy it e Switch to Sunulator o Select the cell below Date Cell F9 and paste If you don t have a full year of data Sunulator will extend the consumption data to a full year by repeating the existing data If you try to paste more than 366 rows you will get an error message because it extended beyond the editable range of the worksheet Page 12 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide A third option is to import data from a text file The file must be in a format known as NEM12 You might obtain a NEM12 file containing metering data from your local distributor For example Powercor will supply one in reply to an email to this address RequestMeterData powercor com au To import a NEM12 file enter the name of the file into the cell Filename The file must have an extension xml and this should be included in the name If the file is located in the same folder as the Sunulator file you may leave the folder cell blank If it s in a different location please type the folder location or copy and paste to the
39. for maintenance egcleaning 2 565 L477 Up Front solar investment The up front cost to the electricity consumer to install the solar system after REC rebates if any and GST Electricity cost The total payment to the grid electricity retailer for a full year based on the simulation by half hourly interval Includes feed in tariffs if relevant Note that this may vary in future years based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet Annual loan repayment Only relevant for the option Project Finance Revenue from RECS Only relevant for systems larger than 100 kW Admin cost for RECs Only for gt 100kW includes both compliance and administrative costs Cost for maintenance eg cleaning or inspection An annual cost as input by the user Annual cost total first year Sum of the annual items above This shows the overall annual financial impact on the electricity consumer Based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet this may vary for future years in the cash flow This section presents some measures based on the cash flow projection for each scenario These measures assume that the first scenario is a business as usual BAU scenario against which the other scenarios can be compared For example the consumer may still be paying an electricity bill to their retailer but it is smaller than BAU so the bill reduction can be counted as a benefit When comparing scenarios it
40. g 8 0 10 0 10 0 se Er 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Nov 9 5 Jan Feb Nar Apr May Jun Jul AUD Oct Moy Dec 0 200 000 100 0 Daily avg e Click the State cell and select from the drop down list e Click each yellow cell and type in the number Page 8 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 2 1 2 1 Daily Consumption Options In the next worksheet you select how you would like to enter estimates of daily consumption This workbook has two options to enter this information 1 Nominate several time periods within the day and enter the proportion of daily consumption each period represents 2 For each half hourly interval inthe day enter the proportion of daily consumption it represents Which option would you like to use F Click then use drop down fist 2 1 2 2 Daily Consumption Option 1 If you selected the consumption option Several Periods here you tell Sunulator how electricity consumption varies throughout a typical weekday You may have obtained this information by manually reading the electricity meter several times per day Please see appendix A for some tips on how to do this Or it may simply be a rough estimate For example you are analysing a business and found that e Average daily consumption is 500 kWh e Morning shift goes from 7 00am to midday e Morning shift consumption is 200 kWh on average So for that perio
41. g GST 5 1 1 3 Discount Rate for the electricity consumer Money available now more has more value than money received in 35 years time due to the opportunity to invest in other ventures Sunulator uses the discount rate to also calculate a 35 year discounted cash flow This is used for financial measures such as Discounted Payback Period Net Present Value and Return on Investment You might choose to set this to match the rate at which you can borrow or the return you would receive in other investments If an investor is involved a separate rate can be set for them on another sheet Since dollar values in Sunulator are all entered in current dollars the discount rate should generally be set to exclude inflation If you re using a mortgage rate of 5 5 and inflation is 3 then you might choose a discount rate of 2 5 5 1 1 4 Horizon Financial returns are ignored beyond this horizon Each person or organisation has different financial circumstances some may take a longer view than others For example 10 year might be appropriate for a profit driven business focused on short term returns but 20 years for a fire station focusing on long term community benefits 5 1 1 5 GST Rate This is the rate of Goods and Services Tax If the entity paying for the solar battery system can claim back the GST component from the government it may be appropriate to set this to zero 5 1 1 6 REC price This refers to certificates that account for
42. h other economically and environmentally To cater for different options like these Sunulator allows you to define up to six scenarios at once When you run Sunulator all the scenarios are run separately but the results worksheets make it easy to compare scenarios against each other Scenario 1 should be entered as a business as usual scenario Scenario 1 is the baseline Typically this has no solar system or battery and uses current tariffs Most reports show the difference between scenarios 2 6 and scenario 1 For example what is the saving off the annual bill This is your Business As Usual scenario e Click on a yellow cell e Enter a scenario name Page 21 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This is where you tell Sunulator about the solar system for each scenario Typically the first Business as Usual scenario doesn t have a solar system Variable info Unit Example pau skw _ skwakwh skwakwhlakwh Location Variables Used for solar data __ Melbourne Solar First Array Please select a location from the drop down box Please note that not all Australian states are supported yet as Sunulator has been developed with funding from state based organisations At the time of writing only NSW and Vic are included Locations have been selected to cover a range of population centres and climates S
43. he 23 36 kW on the 20 35kW on the 19 25 kW on the 10 and 22 kW on the 15 Their average peak demand is 31 6 kW so their demand charge for December is 9 x 31 6 284 Some tariffs will only consider demand peaks within a time window each day any peaks occurring outside that time window are ignored Enter these times into this table as half hour intervals ie interval 1 is from midnight to 0 30 am If the tariff ignores peaks on the weekend days 6 and 7 then leave the start and end intervals blank for those days Weekday MDStart_ MDEnd_ StartTime __ EndTime a po Minimum Demand is a minimum level for the demand charge For example the grocer may be on a tariff with a minimum demand of 20 kW In this case even though their actual peak demand in April was 10 kW the demand charge is 9 20 180 Page 18 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Typically anytime peak demand tariffs are not purely based on the peak demand there is also a charge for energy imports measured in kilowatt hours kWh There may be two different tariffs for energy peak and off peak Enter these separately in the cells Peak energy and Off peak energy The off peak period depends on the time and day of week Fill in the table Peak times for energy consumption on the Anytime Peak Demand tariff Here you define the start and end times for the p
44. he previous table Page 10 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 2 1 2 4 Daily Consumption Option 2 If you selected the consumption option Half hourly intervals you will go to this worksheet instead of the previous one This worksheet allows you to input a weekday profile with more precision Interval EndTime _ EnergyPercent Chart Weekday consumption by interval a 00 30 2 J oo a oa 4 E For each of the 48 intervals e Click on the yellow cell e Enter a percentage You can also copy and paste from another spreadsheet Please note that with this option weekday and public holiday options from Consumption option 1 still apply For example you may want weekends to retain the same profile but at only 80 of the consumption Page 11 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide If you have half hourly meter data in a spreadsheet this is the option for you For tips on obtaining meter data please see appendix A It s up to you to format your spreadsheet as follows e First column contains a date eg 01 01 2013 e 48 columns containing half hourly consumption in kilowatt hours kWh For example if a cell contains the value 1 that means one kWh over the half hour interval or an average power of 2 kW Tip if your raw data has a row for each hal
45. hopt_ OO e U e fthere are any scenarios you don t want to include in the results o Click on its yellow box o Enter Y or y e Click the button Run Sunulator Run Sunulator To proceed you must agree to the disclaimer Disclaimer Sunulator is provided by the ATA for use by the community ATA does not warrant guarantee or make any representations as to the suitability of Sumulator s information For any purpose ATA will not be held liable for any claims or damages whatsoever resulting From the use of Sunulator or reliance upon information contained within or produced by the use of Sumulator Sunulator aims to provide a best estimate of economic results over time based on input provided by the user ATA takes no responsibility For variations between these estimates and actual results experienced under any circumstances Economic projections in Sumulator are general in nature and do not take into account any particular person s objectives Financial situation or needs Users should before acting on this information consider its appropriateness having regard to their personal situation We advise that users obtain Financial advice specific to their situation before making any investment Do you agree Page 41 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide When you run Sunulator it goes through several steps for each scenario 1 C
46. if you re using benchmark prices o Note that the cost per Watt normally decreases as system size increases Up front capital costs fora single site Solar panels and associated equipment Up front capital cost Sres s7 pre RECs 4 NumRecs Number of deemed RECs STCs FORERISInstal ho 1 2 60 2640 3 2640 sso s ssojs asoo s If you have not yet received quotes from solar installers you can use benchmark prices available from a variety of sources eg http www solarchoice net au blog category installation advice solar system prices 2 Page 31 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This is where you enter the capital cost for the battery system including labour and any necessary equipment such as charge controller inverter charger cabling sensors etc As for the solar system you have four options to enter the cost e System cost before GST e Cost per kilowatt hour kWh of battery rated capacity before GST e System cost after STCs and GST o This is useful where you have quotes from installers e Cost per kWh of battery rated capacity after STCs and GST o This is useful if you re using benchmark prices Up front capital costs fora single site Batteries and associated equipment CapCostFixedBatt Up front capital cost forthe battery pre GST CapCostPerkWh Capital cost per kWh of battery capacity rated Tot
47. inted 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This affects demand charges in the retail grid import bill ie charges per kW for peaks in grid import Use this column as you do the Fixed Bill column A feed in tariff is the amount paid per kWh for exports to the grid If you expect the feed in tariff to change in future use this column For example if you wanted to model a conservative scenario in which feed in tariffs were eliminated in year ten just enter 100 in year ten This is the amount per kWh the community group charges the host site electricity consumer for electricity supplied by the solar system It only applies for the relevant community ownership options Solar panels degrade over time reducing their generation Long term degradation rates of recently produced panels are hard to predict given the lack of data A quite conservative option is to assume they degrade to the extent of their warranty which typically works out to about 0 83 per year Instead ATA generally prefers to assume a degradation rate of 0 5 per year based on previous long term test results Unlike the other variables percentages for panel degradation do not have a compound effect Page 40 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 6 0 Run Sunulator This worksheet runs Sunulator drawing on all the inputs in the previous sheets E pa Sk WwakW
48. is best to consider more than one measure For example a tiny project may have a great return on investment percentage but net present value is small compared to a more substantial alternative project Below is a brief description of these standard financial measures Please refer to other sources for more information Page 45 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide If the electricity consumer incurs no up front cost for example with the Project Finance option then some measures are not relevant eg Return on Investment IRR Consumer financial projections compared to Scenario I Annual cost saving first year in horizon 5 1 088 5 1 457 5 346 sj sef fl ts EY amj sr Levelised Cost of Energy LCoE c kWwh a a oe 7 2 5 1 Annual cost saving first year Calculated using the last row of the previous table Compared to scenario 1 7 2 5 2 Percentage cost saving first year Expressed as a percentage of the scenario 1 cost 7 2 5 3 Net Present Value NPV Sum of the cash flow over the user defined financial horizon including the initial investment as a negative impact Cash flows in future years are discounted using the user nominated discount rate Please note that if the NPV formula in Excel is used without care it can give incorrect results 7 2 5 4 Simple payback period This includes all the variables in the cash flow except the dis
49. is is only relevant for the Project Finance option e Feed in revenue Annual amount received by the community group for energy fed into the grid and receiving a feed in tariff This can vary over time e REC benefits Annual revenue received from the sale of Renewable Energy Certificates Only relevant for systems larger than 100 kW e Other benefits Expected side effect benefits to individual investors aggregated over the community group Please see the section Costs in the chapter Simulation Model e Annual cost for maintenance Allowance for cleaning inspection etc e Basic Annual Cash Flow Sum of the annual items above This shows the overall annual financial return for the community group Based on user input in the Future Changes worksheet this may vary for future years in the cash flow Page 47 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This section presents the same measures as the section Consumer financial projections For details please refer to that section For this section LCOE also includes costs to establish the community group 2 7 3 Import from grid 25 76 16 76 13 00 13 52 Self consumption of solar generation Some tariffs are based on the maximum or peak import from the grid in a half hour interval This section shows the maximum grid import for each scenario taking into account the impact of solar generati
50. lar inverter e Battery system For each category Enter the replacement frequency in number of years Enter the estimated cost to replace the equipment You may enter a fixed dollar value or an excel formula based on the system cost or cost per unit Fguipment relacement Capital expenditure ReplacePanvears ReplacePanCost Replaceinvyears Frequency of inverter r pla eiment years wm ReplacelnyCost Cost of inverter replacement 5995 op ReplaceBattYears Frequency of replacing Batteries pom ReplaceBattCost Cost of replacing batteries FUJ 56 000s sting 5 1 6 1 Sunulator default values The Sunulator download file contains by default simple formulas reflecting expected price drops e Solar panels account for 1 3 of the system cost and end of life replacements will cost only half the current cost e Grid connected solar inverters account for 1 3 of the system cost and end of life replacements will be 90 of the current cost e Battery systems will reduce in price by 7 per year due to economies of scale as the industry expands A replacement battery system after 10 years will be half the current cost These formulas sit directly in the user entry cell so they are easy to over ride It is assumed that the consumer pays replacement costs for ConsOwn and ProjFin ownership options and also for the other options after ownership transfers to the consumer Based on rules at the time of writing this section onl
51. lude components with a power limit expressed in kilowatts kW For example at time of writing the Tesla Powerwall is stated to have a maximum power output of 5 kW Page 28 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide steady with 7 kW peak The steady rating is the one to enter as the peak rating would probably only apply to spikes shorter than 30 minutes Battery systems that include inverters could be limited either by the battery itself or by the inverter If both the hourly rating and kW rating are left blank Sunulator defaults to a conservative rate that would completely discharge the usable capacity over 10 hours 4 3 2 4 Minimum charge discharge kW It s possible that some grid connected battery systems are designed not to switch on when the power rates are low For example if the charging power is lower than the power consumed by the battery system itself If this applies you can use this cell To access the advanced battery inputs click the button Efficiency dischary Advanced on the initial battery sheet Max discharge kW This reveals a long table allowing you to enter charge and Min discharge kW lf the discharge ra Advanced In most cases you will not need to use this sheet it s only required if you need to model specific battery behavior For example if you have a Time of Use tariff with off peak shoulder and peak you might not
52. ncial horizon except for payback which may use the full 35 year horizon Since taxation is very dependent upon individual situations Sunulator touches on this subject only lightly e Depreciation is included only for the initial investment not equipment replacement e Depreciation is calculated on a straight line basis only e Depreciation is not considered for the cash flow projection and most financial measures Net Present Value Payback period O o Return on Investment o Levelised Cost of Energy The effect of depreciation on taxable income is shown in worksheet 5c Financial Projection If the user has allowed for the aggregate effect of individual taxation benefits Other benefits it is included in the cash flows and financial measures This is entered in worksheet 4c Model Cost Variables As soon as Sunulator finishes running it pops up a window highlighting the scenarios with the best results The values in quick results are described in more detail further in this document Sunulator quick results F For carbon dioxide emissions P Scenario 99k gives the greatest benefit equivalent to removing 135 cars from the road Over the user defined financial horizon of 25 years and For the user defined discount rate of of 6 5 For the electricity consumer Scenario 99k has the lowest export of solar generation at 72 Scenario SOkW gives the greatest net saving of 1 008 171 For the community g
53. ngs There are many different kinds of meter you may need to ask the electricity distributor how to identify the correct number for kilowatt hours kWh imported from the grid To work out how electricity consumptions varies throughout the day record the number several times during the day For example a factory you might read the meter at the start and end of each shift Then subtract the two numbers to find out how much electricity was consumed during that period Of course a single day may be unrepresentative If possible repeat the meter readings over several days and see how it changes 1 As part of its advocacy function ATA is pushing for a standard format for metering data Page 55 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Electricity bills are typically issued quarterly and show total consumption over that period With the most recent four bills you can obtain useful information on e Total annual consumption and e Rough variation throughout the year The number to look for is the number of kilowatt hours kWh However bills give no details on how consumption varies within the quarter let alone within a day In the absence of other information you can use rough estimates For example the average household consumes about 18 kWh of electricity per day with peaks in the morning and evening The problem with such estimates is that consumption patterns c
54. nted by the user nominated discount rate Costs include both the up front system cost and equipment replacement costs D http www propertymetrics com blog 2014 09 30 how not to use npv in excel e Eg solar panel ageing future changes to tariffs Page 46 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This section considers economic returns to a community group investing money in a solar system It s only relevant if the user has selected an option other than Consumer Owned investor financial stats Establishment costs 6 000 1 000 204 534 22 061 Basic annual cash flow in first year J _ TT amr e wh bo o Cc e Establishment costs One off includes costs to set up the community entity install metering set up a retailer if relevant to the scenario e Annual admin costs Includes annual management admin and costs to administer selling RECs if the system is larger than 100 kW e Up Front investment The up front cost to the community group to install the solar system after REC rebates if any and GST e Sales to on site consumers Annual revenue from electricity sold to the host site consumer This will vary over time due to panel degradation and tariff changes as nominated by the user e Sales to off site consumers This is only relevant for the Community Retailer option and takes the place of a feed in tariff e Loan revenue Th
55. nto the rated capacity cell and set max DOD and max SOC values to 100 4 3 1 6 Strategy A battery system must have some rules for when to charge the battery and when to discharge Sunulator provides two different strategies each of which has a set of rules to follow in the simulation Click on the cell to reveal the drop down list then click the strategy you want Solar Buffer Simple This strategy aims to maximise self consumption of solar generation Tariffs make no difference to the Solar Buffer Simple strategy Rules The battery is never charged from grid electricity only from solar When generation exceeds consumption the excess is used to charge the battery o If an excess still exists eg the battery is full it is exported to the grid When consumption exceeds generation energy is discharged from the battery to meet the shortfall o Ifa shortfall still exists eg the battery is empty it is supplied from the grid To behave like this the battery system needs to continually measure export import or consumption generation This may require a sensor to be installed in the meter box The effect of this strategy is to time shift solar generation into the evening flattening out exports and imports during the day as illustrated in this Sunulator chart for a single day 12 Feb using Sample data Scenario 5kW has solar only and 5kW4kWhBuff has solar plus a battery Of course the effect of the battery will depend on a range of
56. on and battery storage Note that if one peak is ameliorated by solar or batteries a different peak may become the maximum for the year For example a late night peak may be unaffected by solar and batteries Consistent with the other stats the units for this measure is kWh over the half hour interval For kW power multiply by two Simulation Results per installation Maximum Demand Max grid impart Date of max grid import on 10 03 14 Thu 27 11 14 Thu 27 11 14 Thu 27 11 14 Mon 10 03 14 Time of max grid import 13 00 13 00 13 00 13 00 13 00 r These stats are used in calculating the overall bill impact statistics above They may be useful when examining average daily costs Please note that based on the community ownership option different scenarios draw on these components in different ways Page 48 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Simulation Results per installation Consumer Electricity Costs Avg daily feed in credit Aug daily charge for energy from solar Page 49 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This sheet presents a variety of charts and tables to assist the user gain insight into the solar options A few of them are reproduced here First select an option from the drop down menu To view the table relating to the chart scroll down the window The values
57. onsumers such as industrial and commercial businesses However distribution networks are also planning to introduce these tariffs for residential customers due to direction from the Australian Energy Regulator Peak demand tariffs are already offered to residential customers in at least one distribution network Anytime peak demand tariffs may be known by other names for example Peak tariff Demand charge Capacity charge An anytime peak demand tariff depends on the highest recorded half hourly electricity demand Demand refers to instantaneous power import from the grid Anytime means that most days are included when finding the peak demand Examples of anytime peak demand 1 An Adelaide grocer s peak demand for the year may occur on an afternoon in a heatwave during the pre Christmas rush in December Their air conditioning is running flat out replenishing air lost through frequently opening doors 2 A sport club s peak demand might occur during a night game while the floodlights are on and the bar is in full swing Peak demand is measured in kilowatts kW which is the average power imported from the grid over the peak 30 minute interval For example the grocer may have imported 20 kWh of energy during the peak interval This equates to an average power demand of 40 kW over the 30 minutes If a solar system is modelled Sunulator will automatically take its generation into account reducing the peak demand
58. or later System permissions to run Excel macros VBA code Sunulator has several inputs and decision points Please allow at least half an hour excluding data gathering Sunulator is focused on community solar projects but there s no reason it can t also be used by businesses or households To get the most out of Sunulator we recommend that you have some prior skills and SUNULATOR understanding for example Confidence using Microsoft Windows Desktop or the Apple equivalent for A a l 1l Introduction example creating folders and viewing file extensions Have a basic understanding of energy concepts eg kWh and kW 2 Consumption Have a basic knowledge of financial concepts eg Payback Period and Net Present 3 Tariffs Value 4 Model 5 Costs Sunulator has been developed by the Alternative Technology Association ATA 7 Results www ata org au Australia s leading not for profit organisation promoting sustainable solutions for the home ver 4f devel Sunulator provides a menu to help you move from sheet to sheet see picture on right Click on the Next and Prev buttons to move forward and back Alternatively if you want to jump to a specific page you can click on one of the blue hyperlinks Page 5 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Co Yellow cells are for user entry e Cross hatched yellow cells do not need
59. ower limitin kW May be limited by the inverter or the battery kw o s5 Max Charge Rate Uses above 2 items Default is based on a 10 hour charge rate kw ooo oo oso so so so 5o Min Charge kW If the charge rate is below this it is ignored kw oo 4 3 2 1 Efficiency There is always some energy lost when a battery is used due to effects such as heat dissipated in the chemical reaction The battery system will also contain other components depending on the technical setup such as an inverter charge controller cables etc These components will also result in efficiency losses Sunulator allows for a single percentage value to cover all losses involved in charging the battery and another value for discharging Please use manufacturer data if available otherwise for Lithium batteries a value of 95 seems appropriate greater if an inverter is involved 90 may be suitable for lead acid batteries Please note that these values are separate from efficiencies in the solar generation system which are covered on the previous sheet For some battery chemistries the efficiency will decrease as charge rates increase the Peukert effect Sunulator automatically adjusts for this 4 3 2 2 Maximum charge discharge hours Some battery systems are designed to limit charging to a rate expressed as a number of hours to go from 1 to 100 SOC You can enter the number of hours in this cell 4 3 2 3 Maximum charge discharge kW Some battery systems inc
60. peak times Help to supply sudden spikes of electricity consumption reducing peak imports from the grid o This reduces the bill if the tariff includes a demand charge Power the site during a grid outage blackout Some of the above benefits depend on the details of the battery equipment that is installed Ifa battery interacts with the grid its installation must be approved by the local grid electricity distributor They will have rules limiting how batteries can be used on their part of the grid At the time of writing such batteries are being installed by small numbers of early adopters but they are expected to become commonplace in the next decade Grid connected systems including solar and batteries are often referred to as hybrid systems Sunulator models battery storage in half hourly intervals using a simulation approach This section lets you enter values that define the battery and how it will be managed on a day to day basis Variable info dit Example sau SRY __ Skwakwhiskwakwhjakwh Overall battery variables Rated capacity Should be on the basis of a C Rating of 100 ie 100 hour discharge Chemistry _ Type of battery MaxDOD____ Maximum depth of discharge allowed down from rated capacity 50 Mex SOC ___ Maximum state of charge allowed ie can filto 100 _ _ aay Usable capacity Capacity between DOD and SOC Wh z5 ooj ooj 4 0 4o 4 0 Suateay erator for operating te bene
61. reate half hourly consumption data from input data 2 Estimate solar generation for each half hourly interval taking into account a Sunshine conditions at the location b The angle of incidence of the sun s rays to the solar panels 3 Each interval decide how much to charge or discharge the battery based on Relative levels of consumption and generation for this interval The battery strategy selected by the user For some strategies estimated future battery levels over the current day aaow Constraints on the battery such as i State of charge ii Maximum charge and discharge rates 4 Calculate grid import and export during each interval 5 Compile energy statistics from the simulation Eg maximum grid import 6 Calculate tariff impacts for each interval 7 Compile financial statistics from the simulation Eg average daily retailer bill for grid import and export 8 Project an annual cash flow up to 35 years into the future 9 Calculate financial statistics and measures Eg Return on Investment D Normally over an entire calendar year Fora Typical Meteorological Year prepared from hourly Bureau of Meteorology satellite data Page 42 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 7 0 Sunulator results Sunulator provides several reports to help you interpret its results All measures are calculated over the user defined fina
62. roup investing over a single installation Scenario SOkW has the best Wet Present Value of 350 640 Scenario SOkW gives the best return on investment of 7 1 Scenario SOkW gives a payback period of 23years If you want to save this window you can copy and paste it into a document using screen capture Most Windows PCs have a keyboard button next to F12 called Prt Scr e Press this button o You may need to hold down the Alt key while doing this e Create or open a document for example in Microsoft Word e Paste the image of the window Page 43 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide This worksheet provides a range of information on the results for each scenario Depending on the options selected by the user for each scenario some statistics are not relevant and show up as blanks You can copy data from this worksheet and paste it into another document or spreadsheet This section is just a handy reference of some user inputs that have an impact on the results For details of these inputs please see previous sections of this document Scenario names BAU SkhY ss SKWMKWhBufffSkwakwhoptskwh Key Simufation Inputs Number of installations 1 z Community Ownership Option ConsOwn ConsOwn IConsOwn Financial discount Rate Consumer 2 9 izon years 20 a Years to aa over ownership to consumer ADBRreOCOCR GG QC GG GAA GG
63. s the system for the entire horizon e Number of installs A community organisation may plan to install solar systems on multiple sites to gain economies of scale In this case the variables on the Solar worksheet should be considered as a generalised configuration If the number of installs is left blank it will default to 1 e Discount Rate for the Investor Please see the notes for the consumer s discount rate on the Cost section For an investor the discount rate is typically the rate of return on an alternative or comparison investment eg a term deposit e Entity establishment costs A community organisation investing in solar will need to set up a structure for example a unit trust or cooperative This covers the one off costs to do this e Entity management costs Annual management administration costs for the organisation This ceases if ownership transfers to the consumer e Metering installation costs For some options the host site consumer pays the community group for electricity consumed from the solar system In this case a meter may be required on the solar system to verify this amount e Other benefits A community group may pool investment funds from many individuals Each of these people will have their own investment and tax situation which may experience other benefits or drawbacks as a side effect of the investment For example the investment might result in a reduction in carbon offset purchases To enable
64. st of the import Sunulator cannot easily represent them together with the other import in one scenario If possible when a controlled load is separately metered remove the controlled load consumption from Sunulator s consumption profile and ignore their tariff This won t impact the analysis when the controlled load is only used during times of little or no generation This is a type of peak demand tariff for commercial and industrial customers When identifying the peak demand instead of considering the an entire year the energy business considers only five or ten specific days for which it has given its customers pre warning a day or two before If you need to cover a tariff such as this please contact the ATA as we can assist you on a project basis As the energy industry evolves new tariffs are still emerging Once they are more common we plan to include them in Sunulator Page 20 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 4 0 Simulation model This section covers how scenarios are defined and configured and running Sunulator Most likely you ll have several different options you re considering for a solar project Eg e Solar system sizes and prices e Roof surfaces with different orientations and tilts e Battery capacity e Locations e Ownership options e Grid tariffs You would like to compare how the different options stack up against eac
65. t 4 3 1 3 Maximum Depth of Discharge If you discharge all the energy out of a battery and flatten it you have achieved a depth of discharge DOD of 100 This is a bad idea as it reduces the battery s lifespan Battery manufacturers and suppliers recommend that you discharge only a portion of the battery s energy Most battery systems will restrict you to a defined depth of discharge common values are Lead acid 30 50 Lithium 50 80 4 3 1 4 Maximum State of Charge State of Charge SOC is the opposite of Depth of Discharge For example battery discharged to 20 DOD has a remaining SOC of 80 If it s been discharged to 90 DOD its SOC is 10 In addition to a limit on DOD some battery systems limit the SOC for example the battery is never charged above 90 Page 25 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 4 3 1 5 Usable Capacity Usable capacity is the amount of energy in kWh that can be discharged from a battery while respecting the maximum DOD and SOC For example a battery rated at 10 kWh with a maximum DOD of 30 and maximum SOC of 10 has a usable capacity of 6 kWh Some battery products do not reveal their rated capacity maximum DOD or maximum SOC instead listing only their Usable Capacity For example the Tesla Powerwall was announced with a usable capacity of 7 kWh daily cycle variant For a system like this enter the usable capacity i
66. t grid tariffs Total estimated grid bill cost Monthly BAU MESkKW te SkW4kWhBuff S SkW4kWhOpt 4kWh Page 52 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Similar to grid import export by interval you can select a specific date within the simulation period using the drop down box in the table Alternatively you can select an entire season to display an averaged generation This is useful for understanding how solar and or batteries are affecting your costs Grid cost or value by interval Cost value BAU HR SkKW 5kW4kWhBuff SkW4kWhOpt Page 53 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide For ownership options other than Consumer Owned the community group will be paying dividends back to investors This worksheet gives some insight into what those returns might look like Individual pers invested r CashFlow Depreciation EBIT CashReturn Taxablelncome 281 000 1 00 OO OOOO i kej m i J 13 700 4 660 40 017 E This shows a financial projection for the community group as a whole e Cash flow This is the overall cash flow for the community group The up front investment 0 4 EE 8 3 EEI occurs in year
67. the tariff optimisation strategy Grid imports are increased until 7 00am off peak and reduced thereafter peak time Grid import export by interval 3 00 2 50 5 2 00 5 1 50 1 00 0 50 4 0 00 0 50 9 1 00 4 1 50 Energy kWh 5kW E 5kW4kWhOpt This chart illustrates Sunulator modelling a battery with no solar Again grid imports are increased until 7 00am and reduced thereafter 9 For more information see appendix D Page 27 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Grid import export by interval 5 00 Ss pa i D D Energy kWh j Ln 1 00 0 50 0 00 O OO OTT TTT ooo Ooo G Gio oo oona oao ao co co o Dm bi bp o a o o D oo ff ey a aE SE fl 8 oF cs et of eT Er a SY a oh oo ee ee Sdn mito oR wDOARAoHA NMA KH DRAASEAN Om O o oooO co GF oO FC FO ae et ta ae at ae ae A AP RA ANN NN BAU 4kWh Note with the Tariff Optimisation strategy Sunulator takes considerably longer to run These two sections allow you to set limits on the efficiency and rates of energy flow into and out of the battery by scenario The two sections are almost identical just substitute the word charge for discharge Efficiency Efficiency charging over 100 hours Remainder of energy is wasted Max charge Hours Minimum no of hours to go from 0 to 100 Default is 10 Max Charge kW P
68. ty consumption Electricity consumption varies throughout the year and over the course of a day Sunulator needs this information to calculate economic results You may be able to source this information from several sources Some sources are more accurate and reliable than others This is the best option if available Contact the electricity distributor the company that owns the poles and wires in the street or electricity retailer who send the bill and ask if this is available Modern meters include interval meters and smart meters These record electricity consumption by half hour interval in Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST Older mechanical meters such as the spinning disk do not record data automatically Rather they can only tell the total consumption accumulated since the last time it was read like the odometer on a car Data may be available on a website which typically requires a login and password The best websites allow you to download a data file Alternatively the company may be able to email you the data file Unfortunately these companies do not use a standard file format Meter data typically comes in a spreadsheet or text file format for example Comma Separated Values csv file These require some skill with a spreadsheet to manipulate There is also a standard raw meter data format called NEM12 This can be imported into Sunulator see section 2 You can do your own meter readi
69. unulator has a higher density of locations where annual sunshine varies a lot from place to place for example mountain ranges and the coast Select a location close to the site you are analysing But also take into consideration the level of sunshine at your site A location slightly further away may be more representative than the closest one It may help to refer to a solar map eg http solargis info doc free solar radiation maps GHI How the location list is sorted Capital city locations are listed at the top Then Locations are sorted by state Then From south to north within the state If your scenario has solar panels facing in two different directions for example on different roof surfaces or tilt frames then enter them as separate arrays in sections A and B Otherwise you can enter them all as one array Please enter the nameplate capacity of the array ie the rated capacity at standard test conditions in kW A single typical solar panel has a capacity of 0 25 kW Residential systems are typically 5 kW or smaller At the time of writing the inverter capacity is assumed to not restrict the system output An enhancement for over sized arrays may be included in a future version of Sunulator Page 22 of 61 www ata org au saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Tilt is measured from horizontal Typically panels are installed on the same tilt as the roof as long as
70. want your battery to discharge until the peak period starts discharge limits by half hour interval by scenario Limits can be entered for several items e Charging from the grid e Discharging to the grid e Discharging to the site ie to supply on site electricity consumption Separate inputs can be provided for weekdays and weekends po fScenarigames O S EndTime Type To From Days 7 Lookug r Bau 7 5kw skWw7K 5kw7K 7kwh x af oxo Charge ford Weekday cedos E 8 osoo Charge crid Weekday cGdos 1 June 2015 Tesla shareholders meeting https en wikipedia org wiki Tesla_Powerwall Page 29 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide 5 0 Costs This section of Sunulator allows you to enter information relating to project finances Values can be entered separately for each scenario This is the most complex worksheet in Sunulator It gets easier after this These variables influence the reported financial results 5 1 1 1 Grid retailer Import Tariff Select from the drop down box Each tariff s settings can be changed in section 3 Tariffs 5 1 1 2 Feed in Tariff FiT This is how much money or credit is received from the grid electricity retailer per kWh exported to the grid You ll need to check this with the retailer The electricity consumer cannot benefit from GST on FiT so please enter it as an amount excludin
71. y has an impact if the solar system is greater than or equal to 100 kW In this case RECs are known as Large Generator Certificates LGCs If the system size is less than 100 kW the scenario cells are cross hatched Annual REC revenue Only for system size gt 100 kl RecSalePrice Price obtainable for RECs when selling each year a a O ie pescoplycot_acobore tzero sytem amokw ELLIE ZZ a baton e 77 GY Yd Yi ee e REC Sale Price This is the estimated price that will be received for each REC generated e REC compliance cost The annual cost incurred to ensure compliance with rules for selling REC for example metering and auditing e REC sale input cost The annual administrative cost involved in selling RECs It is assumed that these apply to the consumer for ConsOwn and ProjFin ownership options and also for the other options after ownership transfers to the consumer Page 33 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Scenario Scenario name Community Option Abbreviation 3 5kwakwhBuff 5kWAkWhOpt Akh Sunulator is focused on community solar projects and can model four different arrangements for community ownership of a solar system e Consumer Owned e Community Owned e Project Financing e Community Retailer If in doubt select Consumer Owned as this is the simplest option For each scenario e Click the yellow cell
72. zero e Depreciation Sunulator uses straight line depreciation only with the user inputs in the Model Cost Variables worksheet e Earnings Before Interest and Tax EBIT This is an estimate of taxable income calculated as the sum of annual cash flows minus depreciation This shows a financial projection for an individual investor as an amount per dollar invested e Cash Return A projection of the amount returned to the investor per dollar invested e Taxable Income An estimate of how much the investor s taxable income will be increased on their tax return In this example you can see a negative cash flow and cash return in year ten This happens because the user has estimated that the inverter will require replacement every ten years In reality the community group will need to manage the cash flows for example building up an accumulation fund or to ensure that individuals cashing in their investment can have their money returned It is assumed that depreciation does not apply in the Project Finance option Note if the user has nominated an amount for Other Benefits on sheet 4c this is included in the cash flow and cash return but not the taxable income EBIT As always community groups will need professional financial and taxation advice Page 54 of 61 www ata org au Saved 19 08 2015 2 51 00 PM Printed 20 08 2015 7 57 00 AM ATA s Sunulator User Guide Appendix A Sourcing information on electrici

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