Internal rate of return for renewable energy investments : “Review of how much money people are making on bio, wind and solar"

Abstract

Studies have shown that non-renewable fuels have contributed to the majority of greenhouse gas emissions which has led to global warming. For this reason, it has led to the current global warming challenges we are facing today. Thus, the utilization of renewable energy is very important. The primary objective of this thesis is to review the economics of three different renewable energy systems: wind energy, solar PV and biomass energy systems. Financial analysis metrics such as Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were used to assess the economic competitiveness of the three different technologies.

In addition, extensive study of the different energy systems was done including the Levelized cost of the electricity of each energy system. The results reveal that wind energy performs very well in the economic landscape with a higher rate of return. Solar PV is challenging to advocate due to many factors and biomass energy shows to be the average. In each of the three energy systems, the conclusions differ depending on various interrelated factors.