SOLAR FIELD PLANNER
When can we build it?
Compare cash accumulation, an operating solar field, and the energy it returns.
TWO DIFFERENT CLOCKS
Cash first. Generation follows.
COMPARE THE TRADE-OFF
Monthly funding versus field size
Click a scenario to load it. Dates are years from starting operations.
RENT & CLIENT CASH
Who funds the reserve?
Price thresholds are examples. Marginal WUP participation is 40% in the middle bracket and 60% in the premium bracket, without another 20% share. Green funding comes from WUP’s share; any shortfall needs another source. Client cash is before capital recovery, tax and contractual investor distributions.
Monthly ledger
Assumptions, sources and model boundaries
This is an owner planning tool with generic, editable scenarios. It does not load private payroll, debt, location or presentation assumptions. Entries are processed in your browser. Save and export only when you want a copy.
Commercial reference: $1,980/kWdc capital and $40/kWdc/year O&M from the DOE 2025Q1 PV-only benchmark (250kWdc representative system, 2024 dollars). Applying it at other sizes is a sensitivity, not a size-specific quote. Default yield, construction time, output haircut and contingency are assumptions. Land, interconnection, verification, taxes, inflation, component replacement and other scope outside the benchmark need quotes; add incremental capital explicitly. Zero extra cost means unpriced, not confirmed free.
The entire entered solar operating life’s O&M budget is reserved before construction, in constant dollars. No loan, interest on cash, subsidy, electricity sale, utility-bill saving or residual asset sale is assumed. The utility bill remains separate. Additional capital is external funding; it is not deducted from client cash again.
Funding accumulates only during the entered consumption period. When enough cash exists for capital plus O&M, construction is funded. Generation begins the month after construction finishes. The model builds one field; later reserves remain cash and do not automatically buy more capacity. Output stops after the entered operating life.
Generation pays down the oldest consumption obligations first, with each kWh counted once. Excess before an obligation exists is not banked against future consumption. Deadlines run from each consumption month. Late generation can reduce energy owed but does not erase a missed deadline. Output is forecast—not verified delivery—and requires attributable generation rights and retained environmental attributes. This is equal-volume energy accounting, not hourly matching or proof of additionality. Annualized output omits seasonality, weather and storage.
A 1× target means one generated kWh per consumed kWh; 3× means three. The delivery deadline, field operating life, construction time and cash-funding time are independent. A long delivery window does not mean a field can take that entire period to open without affecting its obligations.