Mid-Sized Global Consultancy: Steel Mill

CHALLENGE:

A mid-sized global consulting company was engaged by a steel mill to evaluate a few unsolicited solar proposals they had received for a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) on some of their land.

The steel mill was interested in knowing if the deals proposed were attractive, or if they should develop their own solar and/or wind farm, as well as how the potential developments would impact their carbon footprint.

The mill was also reviewing the proposals in the context of expected future expansions.

SOLUTION:

The consulting company was able to model each proposal in the Xendee platform to compare the economics of the proposed PPAs vs the Utility purchases vs building their own facility.

With Xendee they could simulate the exact size and solar performance of the proposed developments in their location and the complex financials of the PPA arrangements, and compare them to the local utility price and carbon intensity of the utility purchases.

Xendee's Multi Year functionality also allowed them to simulate the changes in operation expected with the expansions, and increasing utility rates after the current contract end date.

RESULTS:

The PPA proposals were found to be far less attractive than their first impression. The steel mill was on a very attractive rate from the Utility, and their peak load was less than the expected average midday production from the solar array.

Given the take-or-pay arrangement, and intermittency of solar, the mill would be double-paying for a large percent of its load, making the economics significantly worse.

The consulting team was able to clearly show how the proposals would leave a lot of money on the table vs building their own solar development or soliciting a more competitive contender.