International Renewables has expanded on several industry best practices for its customers. The programs, software, and tools from RETScreen® International have proven especially useful, and they continue to rapidly advance the renewable energy industry.

The five-step RETScreen® clean energy model, depicted below, is a collaborative effort from a number of experts from government, industry and academia. IRC provides and contributes an expanded technology model for each of the renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency solutions offered to our customers.

Step 1: Energy Model
The Energy Model step is used in the evaluation of the proposed case system. Parameters include describing the location of the energy project, the type of system used in the base case, the technology for the proposed case, the loads (where applicable), and the renewable energy resource (if applicable). In turn, the annual energy production or energy savings is calculated. Often included in this step is an in depth look at the characteristics of the available energy resource.

Substep 1: Load & Network Design
Used primarily in district heating and cooling project analysis, the Load & Network Design sub-step of the Energy Model is used to estimate the loads for the base case and proposed case systems. Multiple factors can influence loads such as floor area, fuel type, and efficiency. Seasonal fluctuations must also be accounted for. Fuel costs are additionally factored into this step, making it a preliminary cost estimate for heating and cooling.

Step 2: Cost Analysis
The Cost Analysis step is critical in estimating the costs incurred and credits avoided with the installation of the proposed system. Both initial investment costs and the annual recurring costs for operations and maintenance are analyzed. An important choice in this step is whether to perform a feasibility or a pre-feasibility study. A pre-feasibility analysis is somewhat less detailed and less costly though also less accurate whereas a full feasibility study requires more detailed information and more accurate results. Typically the type of renewable energy technology being considered dictates this decision. Subsequent input in this step includes the initial, annual, and periodic costs for the proposed case system from development, engineering and equipment, as well as credits for any costs from the current system that are avoided with the proposed case installation.

Step 3: Emission Analysis (Optional)
The Emission Analysis step is optional, but is used to estimate the potential reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of the proposed project. There are five principal sections in this step:
1. Settings - used to determine whether or not to perform the Emission Analysis, the type of analysis used, and global warming potential factors.
2. Base case electricity system (Baseline) - calculates emission factors from the electricity production of the base case.
3. Base case system GHG summary (Baseline) - summarizes the base case system emission factors and fuel consumption.
4. Proposed case system GHG summary (Project) - summarizes emission factors and fuel consumption of the proposed case.
5. GHG emission reduction summary - displays net annual greenhouse gas emission reduction and equates that to the number of cars and light trucks taken off the road in a given year.

Step 4: Financial Analysis
The financial analysis step is intended primarily to aid decision-makers in their evaluation of a proposed project. This step contains six parts: Financial parameters, Annual income, Project costs and savings/income summary, Financial viability, Yearly cash flows and Cumulative cash flows graph. Financial parameters include the avoided cost of energy, production credits, GHG emission reduction credits, incentives, inflation, discount rate, debt, and taxes. The results of this step speak directly to the decision-makers on the project with a clear Internal Rate of Return (IRR), simple payback, Net Present Value (NPV), etc.

Step 5: Sensitivity and Risk Analysis (optional)
A Sensitivity and Risk Analysis step is available but not required. Whether or not to perform this step depends on the level of certainty in the estimates used for various input parameters, and the level at which those parameters may affect the project's financial viability. This step is divided between two sections, the Sensitivity Analysis and Risk Analysis. Each correlates key parameters and the relevant financial figures and highlights the most impactful parameters. Both analyses are informational only and do not affect the data or results of other steps.

Source: www.retscreen.net