variables defined under plant vs financial_parameters

[elenya-grant]

Sync-up variables defined under plant vs financial_parameters in plant_config

In plant_config there is a section plant and a section finance_parameters.

Some parameters defined under plant are

• cost_year: target year used for capex and opex inflation adjustment calc (done in AdjustedCapexOpexComp). Could be described as "dollar year for output costs".
• atb_year: used to calculate analysis start year ProFAST parameter in finance calculations. Usually analysis_start_year = atb_year + 2
• plant_life: used as operating life ProFAST parameter, sometimes used in performance models that can do lifetime performance estimates (like the electrolyzer)
• installation_time: used as installation months ProFAST parameter and could be used in some (not integrated) cost models to create a list of years of operation.

Parameters defined under finance_parameters are:

• discount_years: the "original" cost years that capex and opex are prior to inflation adjustment calculations
• costing_general_inflation: the inflation rate used to convert capex and opex values in original cost years (specified under discount_years) to the dollar year specified in plant['cost_year'].
• pf_params: this is optional but may include information like operating life, installation months, and analysis start year (aka - may include parameters that may otherwise be pulled from plant).
• profast_general_inflation: value to use for escalation entries in ProFAST inputs and used as value for general inflation rate ProFAST parameter (if pf_params are not included)

So - given the above summary, values used in finance calculations are not solely pulled from finance_parameters and there are many instances where there could be conflicting information between pf_params dictionary (if provided) and plant or finance_parameters.

To avoid this, I think we ought to think about adjusting how finance information is organized in the input files and used in the finance models. I think we have to answer a few questions to work on resolving this:

• what is the intended purpose of the plant section of plant config
• what is one clean method of specifying general finance parameters
• what finance-type parameters may:
  • come from cost or performance models (like maintenance)
  • is technology specific
  • expected to be a one-time user input and not change based on cost, performance, or technology
• where is the line between computations done in cost models vs finance models vs some other model

Proposed solution

This isn't a full solution but one part of this is that I think we should have cost adjustment information (like costing_general_inflation, cost_year, and discount_years) specified together and not in two different sections.

Alternatives considered

Additional context

Related issues:

• Add flexibility in finance models to handle expanded cost model outputs #185
• Preliminary clean-ups in ProFastComp #184
• Standardize analysis_start_year, ATB year, and installation period #99

[elenya-grant]

this issue was partially resolved with PR #190, #196 and #199

[elenya-grant]

I think this issue is mostly resolved, any unresolved parts appear to be captured in Issue #185 and #181