Syllabus: (PV 435) PV Sales & Finance
Prerequisites:
PV 101 or NABCEP credential
Course Description
This eight-hour course uses presentations, topic resources, assignments, and quizzes to help learners develop skills relating to solar electric (PV) sales and project financing, and how to use MREA PV Finance Modeling tools.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Summarize how site assessment data is used for financial modeling.
- Recognize the relevance of energy consumption and PV production in financial modeling.
- Navigate and explore the MREA PV Finance Model.
- Locate resources on the MREA solarprojectbuilder.org website.
- Explain which finance tool(s) to use and why.
- Access and analyze customer utility tariff and rate plans.
- Compare and contrast the differences between net metering, feed-in-tariffs, and value-of-solar rates.
- Recognize the importance of using correct utility costs and escalator assumptions, and their impact on solar PV financial models.
- Locate current solar policies and available incentives.
- Discuss the importance of eligibility criteria, limitations, and requirements for securing incentives for PV installations.
- Investigate how solar policies like net metering, feed-in-tariffs, value-of-solar rates, and taxes influence cash-flow projections of a PV project.
- Describe financial terms, meanings, and concepts including: payback period, return on investment, net present value, internal rate of return, and profitability index.
- Examine the concept of “time value of money.”
- Explain how projected future energy costs and PV energy production are affected by the time value of money.
- Evaluate how system pricing is calculated.
- Explore what influences solar PV pricing.
- Identify ongoing system costs and explain how to estimate them.
- Explore what financing options are available to homeowners, commercial businesses, and tax-exempt entities.
- Recognize how customers’ financial motivations influence which financing option is best for investing in a PV system.
- Explain how financing options are influenced by return on investment.
- Input project costs and assumptions into economic modeling tools.
- Review a financial pro forma.
- Recognize the relevance and importance that assumptions have on economic modeling.
Required Materials
- Online: computer with speakers and Internet access
- In-person: calculator & writing utensil
Continuing Education Credits (CECs)
For more detailed information on MREA courses and Continuing Education Credits see our NABCEP Credentials and Continuing Education pages.
If you have questions about our training programs please don’t hesitate to ask, we can be reached via email at courses@midwestrenew.org or call us 715-592-6595.