Solar Chemical Plant Builder — Terraform Industries Calculator

📅 Analysis Cycle ▾

🌍 Site ▾

Preset Site

Latitude Longitude

Annual Yield (MWh / MWdc / year)

This is the long-run annual PV output per MWdc. For a more accurate site-specific number, use a cloud/weather-adjusted source such as PVGIS or Global Solar Atlas PVOUT.

GHI: — kWh/m²/yr

Avg Sun Hours: — hrs/day

Yield Source: —

☀️ Solar Array ▾

System Size (MW) 1.0 MW Panel Efficiency (%) 20.0% Panel Cost ($/W) $0.20/W Annual Panel Degradation (%/yr) 0.65%/yr

Multi-year economics fade solar-linked output by the selected annual PV degradation rate.

Mounting Type Structure + Installation BOS ($/W) $0.20/W Land Cost ($/acre) $5,000/acre Site Prep ($/acre) $15,000/acre

Solar installation now includes modules, structure/BOS, land, and site prep. Use site prep to capture clearing, grading, and access-road style work.

Base Yield: — MWh/MWdc-yr

Annual Production: — MWh

Capacity Factor: — %

LCOE: — $/MWh

Solar Install CAPEX: —

🔋 Battery Comparison ▾

Enable battery smoothing comparison

Capacity (MWh) 4.0 MWh Cost ($/kWh) $150/kWh Round-trip Efficiency (%) 90% Cycle Life 4,000

Effective CF: — %

Daily Op Hours: — hrs

⚗️ Chemical Processes ▾

Each modeled process has its own asset-life slider inside its card.

Supported modules

These drive the modeled product economics. When both are enabled, the shared H2/CO2 feedstock split is configurable below.

Exploratory industrial modules

Publicly signaled by Terraform, but excluded from ROI until route-specific assumptions are added.

💰 Market & Incentives ▾

Methane Market Preset

Methane market applies in: Generic / multi-country

Methane market modeled as: Simple sale-price assumption for commodity methane

Use this to label the market structure behind the methane price. Europe support is country-specific and often tender- or CfD-like, so the methane price remains a manual assumption.

Methane Sale Price ($/MCF) $20.00/MCF

This is a market / offtake assumption, not a country-specific subsidy. Use lower values for commodity gas cases and higher values for premium synthetic methane or biomethane contracts.

Methanol Price ($/ton) $600/ton Policy Mode Custom H₂ Credit ($/kg) $0.00/kg Custom CO₂ Credit ($/ton) $0/ton

Applies in: United States

Modeled as: Top-tier hydrogen production credit on H₂ output

Stacking rule: US 45V and 45Q are mutually exclusive here

Older Terraform materials discuss a US electricity-side credit using 45E language. Post-2024 that framing is generally 45Y / 48E and is not directly modeled here because it depends on solar asset ownership and tax structure.

This panel forces one named policy mode at a time. In real US projects, some power-side incentives may coexist with product-side incentives depending on structure, but 45V and 45Q should not both be claimed for the same facility.

Solar Asset Life (years) 30 years Analysis Horizon (years) 30 years Discount Rate (%) 8%

🔧 Maintenance & Operations (M&O) ▾

Annual fixed O&M modeled as a percentage of installed CAPEX in each category (not land or site prep).

Solar M&O (% of module + BOS / year) 1.5%/yr Process M&O (% of electrolyzer, DAC, and product equipment / year) 3.0%/yr Battery M&O (% of battery CAPEX / year) 1.5%/yr

Site Footprint

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Satellite view for Earth locations. The highlighted amber square is the estimated total site footprint (solar + active plant modules); the smaller colored squares sit at the top-left as a simple side-by-side process row.

Site Footprint

Power Profile