MINA330 Project Economics for Renewable Energy and Forestry

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Kristin Linnerud

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Limits of class size:40 places. See note further down.

Course frequency:Annually

Nominal workload:250 hours

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in the Autumn parallel. This course has teaching/evaluation in Autumn parallel.

About this course

In this course, the student learn theories for the organization and economic assessment of investment and financing projects and develops skills in applying these in the energy and forestry sector.

To be able to apply the theories to realistic problems, some lectures in part II of the course will follow two parallel tracks - one for renewable energy and one for forestry.

Part I: gives a brief introduction to investment and financing theory with an emphasis on the Net Present Value method. Budgeting of cash flows, discounting, profitability assessments and sensitivity analyzes are central.

Part II: shows how this theory can be applied in practice to projects taken from either the renewable energy or forestry sector. Development of Excel spreadsheets adapted to various purposes is central. We use several methods to analyze uncertainty.

  • Renewable energy students learn to assess the relationship between technology, cost structure, profitability and sensitivity. This is used to calculate technology-specific unit costs (LCOE). They get a thorough introduction to current regulatory and economic framework conditions for the energy sector, and how these affect decisions and values. Students learn methods for measuring and managing market and policy uncertainty.
  • Forestry students get an introduction to profitability assessments applied to forestry projects. The concept of income is central and is used to value forests for various purposes and to analyze the effect of price changes and regulatory and economic framework conditions. Students learn methods for measuring and dealing with uncertain factors such as climate, technology, market and politics.

Part III provides an introduction to project analyses such as work form, structure and planning models, project phases and timeline as well as models for project organisation.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Reproduce theories and methods for project management and financial analysis of projects in either the energy sector or the forestry sector.

Reproduce key conditions that affect implementation, risk and profitability of projects in either the energy sector or the forestry sector.

Skills:

After completing the course, students must master:

1. Preparation, planning and evaluation of projects.

2. Analyzes of investment and financing projects, asset management and valuation based on data from several information sources.

3. Methods for measuring, understanding the effect of and handling uncertainty in relevant factors.

General competence:

Master oral and written presentation, use Excel for economic evaluation and data analysis.

  • Lectures, exercises and practical training, independent study.

    Semester assignment, presentation and discussion.

  • Canvas. During office hours and on appointment, lecturers can provide academic supervision to students (make appointment).
  • One of the following courses: BUS100, SKOG230, FORNY150, or equivalent courses.
  • Combined assessment:

    • Portfolio consisting of a mid-term written exam and a semester-assignment. Counts 60 %.
    • Oral exam. Counts 40 %.

    All parts must be passed in order to pass the course.

  • External examiner participates and evaluates oral exam.
  • The first lecture and exercises.
  • Students who want to take the course must apply for admission in Studentweb no later than the 31st of August. After that, the places in the course will be distributed.

    The first lecture is mandatory.

  • About. 75 hour lecturing including guest lectures and seminars, 25 hour exercises
  • M-FORNY, M-SF, M-REIS
  • RØP310 5 SP, is not taught any more

    RØP330 10 SP, is not taught any more

    FORN320 5 SP, is not taught any more

    BUS220 7,5 SP

  • Letter grades
  • Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)