20 Must-Know PV Terms for Solar Professionals (Part 2)
11. static investment
Static investment is the total amount of investment at the beginning of the construction of a project, without considering future operating costs and revenues.
12.Dynamic Investment
Dynamic investment takes into account the cash flow of a project over its entire life cycle, including operating costs, maintenance costs, and revenues.
13. Capital Funds
Capital funds represent the portion of project investment contributed by investors' own capital, typically accounting for 20%–30% of the total investment.
14. Internal Rate of Return
IRR is the discount rate that makes the net present value (NPV) of a project zero. It reflects the project’s profitability—a higher IRR indicates better investment returns. Generally, the IRR should be at least 6–8%.
15. discount rate
The discount rate is the rate at which future cash flows are discounted to their present value, and is usually determined based on the project's level of risk and cost of capital.
16. Electricity price formation logic: marginal cost pricing + differential subsidies
① Competitive bidding: power station quoted at cost, such as PV kWh cost 0.3 yuan, aggregated to form the supply and demand curve.
② marginal pricing: take the last 1 kWh to meet the consumption target offer, as the mechanism of the price of electricity.
③Revenue formula:
Total Revenue = Market Price × Grid-delivered Electricity + (Mechanism Price – Market Price) × Mechanism Electricity Volume
When the market price is below the mechanism price, the grid supplements the difference; when higher, the surplus is reclaimed ("refunded or collected as needed").
17.DC-to-AC Ratio
The DC-to-AC ratio is the capacity ratio between the DC side (PV modules) and AC side (inverter output) of a PV plant. An optimal ratio improves generation efficiency and economic performance.
18. DC Side Capacity
The DC side capacity is the total installed capacity of the PV modules in megawatts (MW). In the future, only the AC side capacity will be used for distributed type.
19. AC Side Capacity
The AC side capacity is the maximum capacity of the inverter output in megawatts (MW).
20. Generation-Grid-Load-Storage (GGLS)
GGLS is an energy system operation mode that integrates the power generation side (source), the power grid (network), the load side (load) and the energy storage system (storage). By coordinating the various links, it improves the efficiency of energy utilization and ensures the stable operation of the power system.