Feasibility Study APEX Building

The APEX Building uses 26021 kW per year. To figure out how many solar panels you need, you have to
figure out how many kW are used every hour. So, to start you take how many kWh were used and divide
it by 365 day 26021/365=71.3. Then you divide by 5.6 sun hours in a day 71.3/5.6=12.7. Then you need
to divide that further by the 15% loss of energy converting from DC to AC 12.7/.85=15. Most common
solar panels are 250W, so 15/.25=60. So you would need 60 panels for a full system knockout.
Solar panels are known to work better throughout the spring and summer, and why is this? Well, the
more obvious answer would be that there is more sun and fewer clouds. Yet, temperature also has an
effect on solar panels. In states like California, its not as big of a deal, but if your panel starts to go
below around 40 degrees, or 110 degrees Fahrenheit, each change in degree past that point can start to
drastically decrease the panels effectiveness.
This system will have the following:
60 250w Solar Panels w/ attached micro-inverters
Corresponding length of mounting
Electrical Breaker connected to the grid in the circuit.
Meter Keeps track of how much energy you are putting and taking out to keep on track with
your bill.
Appropriated size of wire.
In California, when you install a PV system to your home, you can sign up for what is called net
metering. This is basically where there is a meter, and it will spin up for the energy you use, and spin
down for the energy being created by the PV system. This is why its called Grid-Tied, because instead
of actually creating energy for your house, the PV system is tied to the Grid, earning you credits.
So if you have a 15 kW system, producing at about 5.6 hours a day, then you take
15*5.6*365*.85=26061. This is just right over what the building uses, which is right where we want to
be. For the general pricing of installing a PV system, we created a general outline of what wed think the
overall cost would be. All one needs to do is input the price of the panels and the math is done for you.
If each panel costs $197.50, and we need 60 panels, then 197.5*60=11850. When plugged into the
calculation sheet, you have
Qty
Labor
Hrs Labor Cost Materials Tax Other/Sub Subtotal Markup Total
Package 1 0 $ - $ 11,850 $ 948 $ - $ 12,798 $ 4,266 $ 17,064

Wiring 300 30 $ 1,650 $ 900 $ 72 $ - $ 2,622 $ 874 $ 3,496
Structural 1 16 $ 880 $ 1,000 $ 80 $ - $ 1,960 $ 653 $ 2,613
Permit/Fees $ - $ - $ 2,000 $ 2,000 $ 667 $ 2,667
Design and
Engineering 1 $ - $ - $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 1,000 $ 4,000
Mobilization /
Support 1 8 $ 440 $ 500 $ 40 $ - $ 980 $ 327 $ 1,307
Total $ 2,970 $ 14,250 $ 1,140 $ 5,000 $ 23,360 $ 7,787 $ 31,147

So the overall total is $31,147. In July of last year, the company was charged $225.85 for 1022 kWh.
225.85/1022=.22. This means that one kWh costs 22 cents. In this way they are saving $5724.62
(26021*.22=5724.62) a year. If you take the overall price divided by the annual savings, you get
31147/5724.62=5.44. Just over 5 years in order pay off the price of the panels, thats quite impressive.
To calculate a return on investment, you have the equation



So if you track the price over 25 years, which is the life of the warranty of the product, you need to is
simply multiply 25*5724.62(annual savings) =143115.5. So, if you plug in the know numbers in to the
equation, you get (143115.5-31147)/31147=3.59, which means that you are having an increase of 359%.
Overall, this project will cost a decent amount of money, but in the end, it is shown that this project can
really bring in a lot of money for the company. In just 25 years, they can get a 359% return on their
investment, and the system will pay itself off in just 5 years, meaning that as long as the company is in
this building, and stays in business, then they will have paid off the system. Solar energy in California is a
growing trend, and is something that shouldnt just be overlooked. The market for photovoltaics is
steadily increasing, as it becomes more publically available, as well as much less expensive. Now is as
good of a time as any in California to install a PV system into a home or office space, and it can save
tons. On top of all that, harnessing the power of the sun is completely harmless to the environment, and
is a great way to start going green. In the end, there is really no reason not to install a PV system on
the APEX building. It may seem like an incredibly expensive way to cut back on energy use, but in truth,
when you look at the numbers, you can see that it will pay itself off pretty quickly.
Feasibility Study Scott House

1 year of energy use:
Table 1: Scott House Data
Month Energy Used (kWh)
Jan-13 693
Feb-13 680
Mar-13 580
Apr-13 623
May-13 703
Jun-13 613
Jul-13 665
Aug-13 659
Sep-13 594
Oct-13 689
Nov-13 762
Dec-13 865
Total: 8126
Average: 677.2
So I have the number for how much energy Scott used last year. What I want to find is how
many kW he uses for every sun hour (on average). Once I know this, I can correlate how many
panels he would mean to completely mitigate his energy bill. To find this, I took 8126 and
divided it by 365 (days). 8126/365=22.26. Next, in California, there is an average of 4.8 sun
hours/day. So, you then need to take 22.26/4.8=4.64. Finally, a Photovoltaic system converts DC
electricity to AC electricity. With this conversion, there is a 15% loss of energy. So, you have to
take 4.64/.85=5.46. Generally, the highest watt, non-commercial panels you can buy are 250w.
So, knowing that 1 kW is 1000 watts, you determine that 5.5/.25=22. So, you need 22 250w
solar panels to mitigate the cost of an electrical bill.
So, if we know that a solar array creates 5.5 kWh, and kWh means how many kilowatts are
produced in an hour, you need to go from hours to years. So you multiply by 4.8 average
working hours 5.5*4.8=26.4, and then multiply that by 365 days 26.4*365=9636. This will
essentially bring their energy bill down to zero, yet there is still a 5 dollar minimum fee with
SDG&E, so you will pay a total of 60 dollars a year. In March of last year, Scott paid $143.32 for
580kWh. 143.32/580=.25. If they are paying 25 cents per kWh, then 8126*.25=2031.5. This
would be their annual savings, but first you have to subtract the 60 dollar annual fine for being
on the grid, then you have $1971.5 savings per year. Given this number, you can divide the
overall price by the annual savings to find how long it will take before the system pays itself off.


Qty Labor Hrs Labor Cost Materials Tax Other/Sub Subtotal Markup Total
Package 1 0 $ - $ 4,345 $ 348 $ - $ 4,693 $ 1,564 $ 6,257

Wiring 300 30 $ 1,650 $ 900 $ 72 $ - $ 2,622 $ 874 $ 3,496
Structural 1 16 $ 880 $ 1,000 $ 80 $ - $ 1,960 $ 653 $ 2,613
Permit/Fees $ - $ - $ 2,000 $ 2,000 $ 667 $ 2,667
Design and Engineering 1 $ - $ - $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 1,000 $ 4,000
Mobilization / Support 1 8 $ 440 $ 500 $ 40 $ - $ 980 $ 327 $ 1,307
Total $ 2,970 $ 6,745 $ 540 $ 5,000 $ 15,255 $ 5,085 $ 20,339

From a pricing standpoint, the vendor we went to said that it would cost $4,345 for 22 panels. We found
this format of spreadsheet as it is a great way to find an overall price for installing the system. In this
spreadsheet, the total is $20339, so 20339/1971.5=10.3 years. It would take just over 10 years in order
to pay off this system. That is considerably higher than the previous, and that is most likely because the
pricing for residential buildings is different than for buildings like APEX. When you plug the numbers into
the return on investment equation, you get (49287.5-20339)/20339=1.42, which means you will have a
return of 142%.
So, in the end the products to be bought are as following:
22 250w Solar Panels w/ attached micro-inverters
Corresponding length of mounting
Meter Used to determine how much energy is coming from the grid, and how much energy
you are putting back on the grid, to help find a monthly statement.
Circuit Breaker Stops shortages or overpowering electrical currents as to keep the flow of
electricity safe.
Appropriated size of wire.
In the end, there seems to be no reason why Scott wouldnt want to install a PV system onto his home.
It may seem quite expensive at first, but when you get down to facts, he will have a 142% return on
investment, and it will only take 10 years to pay off. So, when you think about it, the price of buying a PV
system is quite small compared to what you could earn off of it, and the earlier you buy, the more
overall savings you will receive. Like I said, PV is a rapidly growing trend in California, and right now, it is
at its cheapest price, so there should be no reason why you shouldnt buy a PV system. Overall, the cost
is most definitely worth the end benefit.