WSP is one of the world's leading engineering consulting firms offering consulting services for sustainable community development within the Housing & Industry, Transport & Infrastructure and Environment & Energy sectors.

We at WSP, Elkraft Nord have a relatively broad working area, from providing engineering solutions for conventional electrical power plants, and distribution & transmission lines to delivering expertise for more environmentally friendly and sustainable energy systems such as hydropower and solar energy. Our solar experts in Uppsala have close collaboration with the other members of the solar engineering network in Sweden and together we offer technical advisory and project delivery services to support manufacturers, developers, contractors, utility companies, owners, investors/lenders and governments in meeting the challenges faced in planning and executing solar projects.

Introduction

Energy prices have been drastically unstable and upward for the last two years around the world due to different internal and external factors; No doubt that a part of this increase in the prices can be because of the transition from conventional energy sources to more sustainable and renewable. However, it is believed that external energy crises have more severe effects on market insecurity and result in a higher final cost for the consumers.

This has made many investors and also private households interested in decentralized and locally produced renewable energy systems. One of the first questions that arises when it comes to developing a new system is how the system is financially beneficial? How long is the payback period, and how much does the system’s owner profit? These questions are usually addressed with a comprehensive economic study.

Every economic study is inherently dynamic and a function of time while uncertainty is the central ingredient of this analytical model. Variability in the model inputs, assumptions, and approximations contributes to the model's uncertainty and makes the decision-making process more challenging. In this situation, a meticulous estimation of future cash flow, system revenue and cost considering the development of energy market price can assist the project developers and support the investment decisions.

Aim

This master thesis aims to develop an analytical economy model using the long-term prediction of the electricity market price and its possible increase over the lifespan of the intended renewable energy system. The model gets the design parameters and also variables such as system price/kW, market inflation and interest rate, cost of operation & maintenance, etc. while it has the capability to predict future electricity market prices using the available data. The model's expected output depicts the intended system's financial viability over parameters such as LCOE, NPV, and payback period.

Method

The following steps are expected to accomplish the aim:

• Data collection: Current electricity price in different virtual electricity areas in Sweden, and how the electricity price would be affected by the introduction of new areas according to the latest reports by Svenska kraftnät, Energimyndigheten, etc.
• Model development: Develop the economy model using programming software such as Python.
• Validation: The model will be validated against an existing PV & energy storage installation designed by WSP.

Requirements

It is expected that the candidates have previous knowledge of renewable systems, in particular Solar PV systems, designs and economic analysis. It is also required to have experience in using a programming language, preferably Python.

Contact person

Annika Bäcklund, Annika.backlund@WSP.com
Simon Azad, simon.azad@wsp.com