ProFastNPV

The ProFastNPV finance model calculates the net present value (NPV) of a commodity using ProFAST.

ProFastNPV inherits from ProFastBase so refer to the ProFastBase documentation for setting the finance parameters.

The only additional parameters that are required when using the ProFastNPV model are commodity_sell_price and commodity_sell_price_units. The latter is the OpenMDAO unit string for the sell price (e.g. "USD/(kW*h)" for electricity, "USD/kg" for hydrogen) and is required so that the NPV cash-flow calculation can convert between price and production-rate units without relying on a separate placeholder output.

Below is an example of how to set up the ProFast NPV model in the plant_config:

finance_parameters:
  finance_model: "ProFastNPV"
  model_inputs:
    commodity_sell_price: 0.05 # USD/commodity
    commodity_sell_price_units: "USD/kg" # OpenMDAO unit string for commodity_sell_price
    params: !include  "profast_params.yaml" #Finance information
    capital_items: #default parameters for capital items unless specified in tech_config
      depr_type: "MACRS" ##depreciation method for capital items, can be "MACRS" or "Straight line"
      depr_period: 5 #depreciation period for capital items
      refurb: [0.]
  cost_adjustment_parameters:
    target_dollar_year: 2022
    cost_year_adjustment_inflation: 0.025 # used to adjust costs for technologies to target_dollar_year

Note

commodity_sell_price can be input as a scalar value (as shown above) or as a list that has the same length as the plant_life specified in the plant configuration file. Please refer to the documentation on different types of financial analysis to determine how to input the commodity_sell_price across different years.

Important

ProFAST will apply the commodity escalation rate to the commodity_sell_price in its calculations. The commodity escalation rate will default to the general inflation rate (input under model_inputs['params']['inflation_rate']) unless explicity provided as model_inputs['params']['commodity']['escalation']

Output values and naming convention

ProFastNPV outputs the following data following the naming convention detailed below:

• NPV_<commodity_and_descriptor>: net present value of commodity in USD.

Naming convention:

• <commodity_and_descriptor>:

  • if commodity_desc is not provided, then <commodity_and_descriptor> this is just commodity. For example, NPV_hydrogen if the commodity is "hydrogen".

  • if commodity_desc is provided, then <commodity_and_descriptor> is <commodity>_<commodity_desc>. For example, NPV_hydrogen_produced if the commodity is "hydrogen" and commodity_desc is "produced"