Financial Valuation of Distributed Solar Resources in Texas using Electrified Transportation Hubs as a Case Study
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This paper introduces a solar calculator adapted from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Cost of Renewable Energy Spreadsheet Tool (CREST) [1] and UT LBJ’s community solar financial model [2] to assess the economic viability of co-located solar and storage projects at electrified (E-) transportation hubs in the Austin, Texas region. This model was developed as part of a multidisciplinary Austin-based pilot study that investigated a novel E-hub concept to integrate heterogeneous E-modes (buses, shared scooters/bikes, private vehicles) that could benefit regional infrastructure and affect socioeconomic growth. While the use-case selected for this paper is very application- and regional- specific, its construction is generalizable enough to adapt to a wider set of distributed-energy generation (DEG) and commercial-scale projects in various markets around Texas and the U.S.