Proposed Business Case: Public-Private Partnership Community Solar for CTA Heavy Maintenance Facility & Rail Yard System Owner: Developer Installation Type: Rooftop/Carport Subscriber Model: Panel Lease Host Site Owner: Public Sector System Size: 1,900 kW Subscribers 175 September, 2017
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Proposed Business Case: Public-Private Partnership
Community Solar for CTA Heavy Maintenance Facility & Rail Yard
System Owner: Developer
Installation Type: Rooftop/Carport
Subscriber Model: Panel Lease
Host Site Owner: Public Sector
System Size: 1,900 kW
Subscribers 175
September, 2017
CS060 Prairie State College Case Study Cook County Community Solar Project
Contents Case Study ..................................................................................................................................................................3
Business Case Assumptions ....................................................................................................................................3
Site Assessment ..........................................................................................................................................................3
System Design ............................................................................................................................................................5
System Components and Costs ..............................................................................................................................5
System Performance ..............................................................................................................................................6
Operations and Maintenance .................................................................................................................................6
Business Model ...........................................................................................................................................................7
Financial Model ..........................................................................................................................................................7
Host Site Metrics ....................................................................................................................................................8
System Owner Metrics ...........................................................................................................................................8
The Cook County Community Solar Project ............................................................................................................ 10
About the SunShot Initiative ................................................................................................................................... 11
CS060 Prairie State College Case Study Cook County Community Solar Project
Developer-owned, host-owned and equity investor models were analyzed. The equity-investor model produced
an Internal Rate of Return of just 7.8% before taxes. The host-owned system produced a better overall Net
Benefit over the life of the system, But the IRR was just 3.3%. The developer-owned system produced the best
overall return for both developer with an Internal Rate of Return of 9.9%. The earnings for the host were very
good, as well, and it allowed no upfront investment or risk. The Return On Investment (ROI) for the Developer
for this proposed model is anticipated to be 25.6% and the host site average annual return over was more than
$19,000 annually over the life of the system.
Subscriber Model
The proposed subscriber model is a panel lease model, with the Chicago Transit Authority as an anchor
subscriber. Households and businesses from the surrounding community will take the remaining shares. The CTA
will subscribe to 40% of the system output, or approximately 950,000 kWh annually. They will lease panels for
$1.11 per month, which represents a 10% savings on their electricity rate the first year. Residential subscribers
will lease panels for $1.56 per month each, which also represents a 10% savings. Our model assumes subscribers
lease an average of 20 panels each, requiring about 175 subscribers to reach full subscription. Savings are
anticipated to increase over time as energy prices increase.
Financial Model Inputs & Assumptions
Financial models were developed using the Community Solar Business Case Tool developed by the Cook County
Community Solar project team. Inputs were based on findings from the engineering assessment conducted by
Primera, LLC on behalf of Cook County, solar design outputs from Elevate Energy and Microgrid Energy using
Helioscope and PVSyst, interconnection pre-screening reports from ComEd, as well as industry data for some
inputs identified in cooperation with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory1 and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory2. The Community Solar Business Case Tool version used to develop these financial models is
the Illinois specific tool, which is based on an energy-only residential bill credit rate of $0.0587 per kWh and
average commercial and industrial bill credit rate of $0.035 per kWh. SREC values used were $45.00 per MWh,
based on our assumption of increasing blocks for system size ranges.
1 U.S. Solar PV System Cost Benchmark: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/66532.pdf 2 Tracking the Sun quarterly solar price report: https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/tracking-sun-ix-installed-price
Business Case Tool Version: The tool version used is a customized version of v1.21. All macros were removed and separate rate inputs
were added for C&I/anchor subscribers. The PVWatts rate generator is disabled in this version. To adjust generation rate outputs,
download the latest version here: https://www.elevateenergy.org/community-solar/communitysolarbusinesscasetool/
The Cook County Community Solar Project Project Background
The Cook County Community Solar Project was launched in early 2015 with a grant from the Department of
Energy’s Solar Market Pathways Program. This two year project began on the premise that community solar was
not only possible in our region, but has the potential to bring access and equity in renewables to the 80% of our
population currently left out because of technical, structural or financial barriers. Community solar also has the
potential to bring significant economic development to the region, with more than 600 MW of community solar
development projected in Illinois through 2030 after the launch of the Future Energy Jobs Act in June of 2017.
Project Partners, including Cook County, Elevate Energy, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, The City of
Chicago, ComEd and West Monroe Partners, have produced a series of reports, analyses and tools that are
aimed at supporting stakeholders to grow the emerging community solar market in our region. Project
deliverables include an opportunity assessment, policy analysis, best practices, value and impact analysis and a
series of 15 site-specific project case studies, in which this document is one. More on the project and
deliverables can be found here: https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service/solar-energy
Key Project Contacts Deborah Stone Project Sponsor Chief Sustainability Officer and Director Cook County Department of Environmental Control [email protected]
Vito Greco Project Lead Solar Program Manager Elevate Energy [email protected]
Laura Oakleaf Project Manager Legislative Coordinator Cook County Department of Environmental Control [email protected]