Solar PV Project Finance Model

A single-asset solar PV project finance model built the way lenders and sponsors expect, with nothing hidden: 30 operating years, PPA revenue with escalation followed by merchant pricing, degradation and availability, escalated opex, straight-line tax depreciation, DSCR-sculpted debt with a gearing cap, and project and equity returns.

• Inputs sheet: capacity, yield, degradation, availability, capex per Wp plus fixed costs and financing fees, PPA price, term and escalation, merchant price and inflation, O&M and fixed opex with escalation, target DSCR, maximum gearing, interest rate, tenor, tax rate, depreciation period, discount rates, and three scenario multipliers (price, capex, yield) for quick stress cases.
• Operations sheet: generation, price, revenue, opex, EBITDA, depreciation, unlevered tax and CFADS for every year.
• Debt sheet: service sculpted to the target DSCR, debt capacity as the present value of that service, the gearing cap, pro rata scaling when the cap binds, the full schedule (opening, interest, service, principal, closing), actual tax with the interest deduction, equity cash flow, achieved DSCR each year, minimum and average DSCR, LLCR, and a check that the balance reaches zero at the end of the tenor.
• Returns sheet: unlevered and levered cash flows, project IRR and NPV, equity IRR and NPV, payback year, headline figures.

Design choices are written on the Guide sheet: debt sizing uses unlevered tax to avoid a circular reference (conservative for lenders), construction is a single point at year 0, one tranche, no DSRA or cash sweep. Every default is an example value, not market data, and the Inputs sheet says so. The model was rebuilt independently in Python and matched cell by cell (debt capacity, schedule, taxes, DSCRs, both IRRs and NPVs) before listing. Live formulas, no macros, no locked cells. Excel and Google Sheets.

Who it is for: developers sizing debt before a term sheet, investors screening a project, students learning how sculpting and DSCR work with a model that shows every step. Wind and battery storage versions follow the same structure.