---
title: "Financial analysis"
slug: "financial-analysis"
description: "Learn how to conduct financial analysis for your solar project, including key metrics like ROI, IRR, and cost-effectiveness for optimal performance."
updated: 2026-03-10T11:20:31Z
published: 2026-03-24T12:51:47Z
canonical: "kb.solargis.com/financial-analysis"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.solargis.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Financial analysis

**In this document**

We will show you how to work with the financial analysis for your project.

## Prerequisites

- An active Solargis Prospect account.
- Admin rights, for editing purposes.
- A project created in Prospect with a PV system configured.

## Financial analysis of your project

The financial analysis is based on standard methodology calculations and considers factors such as **price of electricity**, **system installation costs, annual operational costs, baseline accounting information,**and **PV system configuration.** System automatically calculates the costs using the default values. Several inputs can be changed to get a more accurate estimate if required.

The **summary**shows the overall financial performance of your project. Here’s what these values mean for you:

- **Internal Rate of Return (IRR)** **for the Project**: This indicates the overall profitability of your project, showing how well it generates returns compared to its costs.
- **Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for Equity**: This value shows how well your equity investment in the project is performing, considering both profits and the cost of equity.
- **Return on Investment (ROI)**: This metric tells you whether your investment is yielding a profit or loss, with negative values indicating a loss.
- **Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE**): This measures the average cost of producing one kilowatt-hour of electricity over the project's lifetime, helping you understand its cost-effectiveness compared to other energy sources.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/ae2d502f-6c0d-4865-a68e-43ad8da61149/Images/Documentation/image(813).png)

You can view detailed financial and operational metrics for your project over its lifetime in the the Cash Flow table. Here’s what you can see:

- **PVOUT_total (kWh)**: This column shows the total amount of electricity produced by your solar panels each year, with a cumulative total at the end.
- **PVOUT_specific (kWh/kWp)**: This metric indicates the efficiency of your solar panels, showing how much electricity they produce per kilowatt of installed capacity each year.
- **Maintenance Reserve Account (USD/annually)**: This is the annual amount set aside for maintenance costs, which are typically allocated for the first 12 years.
- **OPEX (Operating Expenses) (USD/annually)**: These are the annual operating costs, which include maintenance, repairs, and other expenses necessary to keep the project running.
- **Revenue (USD/annually)**: This shows the annual income generated from selling the electricity produced by your project.
- **EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) (USD/annually)**: This metric indicates the profitability of your project before accounting for non-operational expenses like interest and taxes.
- **EBITDA_specific (USD/annually)**: This is the EBITDA per unit of installed capacity, providing a measure of profitability relative to the project's size.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/ae2d502f-6c0d-4865-a68e-43ad8da61149/Images/Documentation/image(814).png)

> [!TIP]
> **Note**: These metrics help you understand the financial health and operational efficiency of your solar project over its initial 25-year period.

## Customizing the analysis inputs

You can edit default values used for calculation in the **Inputs section**. You can amend the following inputs:

| Category | Adjustable input |
| --- | --- |
| **Price of electricity** | Feed tariff Tariff indexation rat |
| **System installation costs** | System installation costs Installation incentivities or rebates Loan amount (you may also remove the loan if required) Interest rate & loan period |
| **Annual operational costs** | Annual operational costs estimate Maintenance reserve account Year of inverter replacement Opex inflation rate |
| **Accounting information** | Discount rate Taxes on profit Linear tax depreciation |
| **PV system configuration** | Project’s years of operation System availability Degradation first year Degradation next years |

If required, you can **save your new configuration** and use it later for comparison with a different setup. Links for **saving, loading**, and **resetting to defaults** are located at the bottom of the Inputs table.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/ae2d502f-6c0d-4865-a68e-43ad8da61149/Images/Documentation/image(815).png)