Cash flow and debt
Purpose
The cash flow and debt model tests whether modeled cash covers the payments on a loan. It does this for a base case and for a downside case.
Inputs
| Input | Default |
|---|---|
| Revenue | From the revenue model. |
| Operating cost | Solar: $23K per MW per year (NREL Annual Technology Baseline, 2024). |
| Loan principal, interest rate | Set in the loan settings. |
| Tenor and DSCR covenant | Solar: 18 years and 1.25x. Wind: 15 years and 1.35x. |
| Amortization | Level Principal, Level Payment or Sculpted. |
| Percentile for the schedule | Set in the loan settings. |
Replace the defaults with the terms of the loan that you want to assess. See Default assumptions.
Method
CFADS = revenue − operating costs
DSCR = CFADS ÷ debt service
Example (year one): $17.35M revenue − $5.52M operating costs = $11.83M CFADS. $11.83M ÷ $8.48M debt service = about 1.40x DSCR in the base case. The downside result is 1.14x, below the 1.25x covenant.
Amortization:
- Level Principal repays the same principal each year.
- Level Payment keeps debt service the same each year.
- Sculpted shapes debt service to the cash flow at a target DSCR.
Outputs
DSCR, Min DSCR (the lowest P10 DSCR), Covenant Status, Debt / CFADS and LTV, for the Forward 12M, 3-Year and Project Lifecycle views. See the Metrics dictionary.
At each scale
| Scale | What runs |
|---|---|
| Screening | Not available. |
| Asset-specific | The full analysis for one asset and the selected Baseline or Scenario. |
Assumptions
- The model defines CFADS as revenue minus operating costs. Your loan agreement can use a different definition.
Limitations
Check the assumptions and the actual covenant terms before you use the count of covenant breaches.
For all limitations, see Limitations.
Validation
Version
Applies to methodology version 1.0, September 2026.