Total Operating Expenses |  |  |  |

| This topic describes SAM 3.0 and has not been revised for SAM 2009 Beta. You may find useful information, especially if you are new to SAM, but some of the information may be inconsistent with the new version.

The total operating expenses include operation and maintenance costs, and insurance and property tax payments.

Total Operating Expenses =
Fixed (Annual) O&M Expense + Fixed O&M Expense + Variable O&M Expense + Insurance + Property Taxes

The operation and maintenance (O&M) costs are defined on the Costs page, and escalated in each year after year one using both the escalation rate for each O&M category on the Costs page and the inflation rate value on the Financials page. The insurance and property tax rates are also both on the Financials page, and apply to the total installed cost value on the Costs page.

Concentrating solar power systems with fossil backup and the generic system also include an annual cost of fuel in the total operating expense.