My NPV values show negative values

Dear Paul,

The case I refer to is the untitled file included here. You may refer to the picture I attached as well.

First of all, the NPV values are negative and then the cash flow around year 17 starts to be negative. It seems like as the time increases, this CSP parabolic trough plant is making the owner losing money. Is this because of the location irradiation resources? I found a paper also having negative cash flow but it happened at beginning and then after that the cash flow becomes positive. 

May you help me to look into this issue as I cannot really explain the cause of this abnormal trend.

Thanks for your help in advance and hope to hear from you soon!

Best regards,
Weng Pin.

Hi Weng Ping,

A negative net present value (NPV) means that the project costs are more than the benefits.

I the file you sent, you are using the Merchant Plant model for the "untitled" case. This financial model is for a project that sells power at a price that varies from hour to hour, or in smaller increments. The power price you specified on the Revenue page does not change from hour to hour, so you might want to consider using the Single Owner financial model instead. The Merchant Plant model takes a long time to run because it makes calculations in each time step over the life of the project.

Best regards,
Paul.