The Commonwealth Financing Authority published notice in the June 6 PA Bulletin it is soliciting proposals for Solar Energy Economic Modeling Advisory Services.  Proposals are due June 19.

The notice says CFA has $30 million ready to deploy under its Solar Energy Program and needs certain information to maximize the deployment of solar energy in Pennsylvania.  The information includes:

-- Current solar energy market, including purchase and installation prices, solar panel efficiency, life expectancy of installations, solar energy financing models, solar renewable energy credit markets and other trends in the development of solar energy. The CFA Board is seeking information on the solar energy market in the Commonwealth, neighboring states in the PJM market and the national level.

— Provide information on all forms of incentives currently available to solar energy projects, including federal and state grants, loans, tax credits and depreciation benefits.

— Provide typical solar energy economic models, including but not limited to direct ownership, sale-leaseback, leasing arrangements and power purchase agreement structures. Economic modeling should include typical purchase and installation costs, tax credit and depreciation benefits, energy pricing (should include energy pricing assumptions for each electric utility market in the Commonwealth), inflation and cost increase assumptions, solar energy renewable credit pricing and forward SREC contract assumptions, operation and maintenance expenses, insurance and other administrative costs. The economic models should provide information on typical return on investments for the overall project including, but not limited to, the simple payback for investors and the 10-year internal rate of return. For PPA structures, advise the board on how fair market value is determined at the end of the PPA term.

— Review Solar Energy Program guidelines and evaluation criteria to provide recommendations for changes necessary to maximize the deployment of solar energy in the Commonwealth.

A copy of the RFP is available online.

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