Total Ownership Cost Evaluation for Transformers within Solar Power Plants

South Africa has established one of the most reputable renewable energy programmes in the world. The latter presents a new energy mix in the country, and as a consequence it is important to acknowledge the operational characteristics of each power utility. Subsequently, it is crucial then to evaluate the service lifetime cost of each kilowatt as far as the step-up transformers are concerned as it might be different. The Total Ownership Cost is a financial evaluation method meant to render transformer buyers the purchasing and after purchase costs of their transformer expenditure. The method applied in centralized electrical utilities does not quite satisfy the intermittent generation profile experienced by transformers within solar power plants. This paper presents an in-depth loss evaluation procedure to calculate the total ownership cost of transformers expected for service within utility-scale solar photovoltaic plants. These transformers could be owned by Independent Power Producers. More particularly, the proposed method recognizes the intermittent generation profile of the solar plant.