Reference · no template attached, and here is why
Solar Power Plant Project Report
Last reviewed August 2026 · DPR contents, the financial model, and what gets a report returned
A detailed project report for a solar power plant runs 60 to 120 pages for a 1 to 5 MW project and contains fifteen sections: site and land title, solar resource assessment, technology selection, plant design, the single line diagram, evacuation and connectivity, a generation estimate with a loss breakdown, an itemised capital cost, a financial model with IRR and debt service coverage, a sensitivity analysis, statutory clearances, a risk register, an implementation schedule, an operations plan and a promoter profile.
What a lender is actually reading: not the design. The evidence behind the generation number, the status of your connectivity, and whether the debt service coverage holds in the worst year rather than on average.
There is no download here
A generic DPR template with a plausible financial model attached is exactly what a lender returns. The structure is worth having, so it is all set out below, in full and ungated. The evidence has to be yours.
DPR anatomy
Fifteen sections, six of which decide the sanction
Tick off what a report in front of you already contains. Six sections are lender-critical: a file missing any of those will be returned regardless of how complete the rest is, because they are the sections that carry evidence rather than description.
The financial model
Ten sheets, and one number they all serve
Everything in a solar financial model exists to produce a defensible debt service coverage ratio in every year of the loan tenure. A model that reports an average DSCR, or reports one only in the base case, has not answered the question a lender asked.
| Sheet | What has to be in it, and what is usually missing |
|---|---|
| Assumptions | Every input on one sheet: capacity, CUF, degradation, tariff, escalation, O&M, insurance, interest, tenure, tax rate. If an assumption is buried in a formula, the model is not auditable. |
| Generation | Year one output, degradation applied annually across 25 years, and both a P50 and a P90 case. A model with only a P50 is a model with no downside. |
| Capital cost | Itemised to bill-of-quantities level, with land and pre-operative expenses separated from plant, because they are depreciated differently. |
| Revenue | Units multiplied by tariff, with any escalation stated and sourced from the actual offtake document rather than assumed. |
| Operating cost | O&M, insurance, module cleaning, security, land lease if applicable, and the inverter replacement provision around year twelve that most models omit. |
| Debt schedule | Drawdown, moratorium, repayment, interest during construction. Interest during construction is capitalised and is a real part of project cost. |
| Profit and loss | With depreciation on the applicable rate and the additional first-year allowance where the promoter can actually use it. |
| Cash flow and DSCR | Debt service coverage ratio computed for every year of the tenure, not averaged. Lenders read the minimum, not the mean. |
| Returns | Project IRR and equity IRR, both post-tax, with the payback figure clearly labelled as simple or discounted. |
| Sensitivity | Tariff, capex, generation and interest rate flexed independently and together. A model that survives only its base case has not been tested. |
P50 and P90, and why the difference matters
A P50 generation estimate is the figure that will be exceeded half the time. A P90 is the figure that will be exceeded in nine years out of ten. Debt is sized on P90 because a lender is not interested in the average year, only in whether the loan is serviced in a bad one.
A report quoting one generation number without saying which it is has skipped the question. The gap between the two is typically six to ten per cent.
The loss breakdown test
A performance ratio should be arrived at, not asserted. Soiling, temperature, mismatch, DC and AC cable losses, inverter efficiency, transformer losses and downtime each get a percentage, and those percentages have to produce the claimed performance ratio when compounded.
If a report states a performance ratio of 80 per cent with no loss table behind it, that is the first thing a lender's engineer will ask for.
Who needs one
Four readers, four different reports
The same project needs different emphasis depending on who is reading. Writing one report and sending it to all four is how a file gets returned with a question the author considered out of scope.
A lender
Bank or NBFC sanction
Wants the financial model, DSCR through the tenure, the offtake arrangement, security and land title. Reads the sensitivity analysis before the design. Financing a plant.
A utility
DISCOM connectivity
Wants capacity, layout, the single line diagram, the protection scheme and the evacuation design. Largely indifferent to your IRR.
A tender authority
Bid submission
Wants the format the tender document prescribes, in the order it prescribes it. Deviation from the prescribed structure is a disqualification risk, not a style choice.
Your own board
Internal capital approval
Wants the risk register, the alternatives considered and what happens if the tariff assumption is wrong. Usually the shortest report and the hardest questions.
Three different documents
Pre-feasibility, feasibility study, detailed project report
They are sequential, and each is only worth paying for once the previous one has cleared. Commissioning a DPR on a site that has not passed a feasibility check is the most expensive ordinary mistake in this process.
| Pre-feasibility | Feasibility study | Detailed project report | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Is this site worth studying? | Can the project work, and roughly at what return? | Exactly how it will be built, financed and operated |
| Length | 2 to 5 pages | 15 to 40 pages | 60 to 120 pages plus the model |
| Resource data | Regional average | Satellite-derived for the coordinates | Satellite or measured, with P50 and P90 |
| Cost basis | Per-MW benchmark | Indicative, by major head | Itemised to bill-of-quantities level |
| Good enough for | Deciding whether to proceed | A board's in-principle approval | A bank sanction or a tender bid |
| Prerequisite | A location | A specific plot, screened | Land documents, soil report, connectivity position |
If you do not yet have land documents, a soil report and a written position from the utility, a DPR cannot be finished. Screen the site first — ten checks, and it costs nothing.
Why reports get returned
Six failures, and none of them are about design
Reports are rarely returned because the engineering is wrong. They are returned because a number has no evidence behind it, or because a document that should be attached is described as forthcoming.
01
A generation figure with no named source
Which dataset, for which coordinates, over which period, and is the quoted figure P50 or P90. Without that, the revenue line is an opinion.
02
A performance ratio with no loss table
Soiling, temperature, mismatch, cable, inverter, transformer and downtime losses have to compound to the number claimed. Usually they do not.
03
Land title described rather than evidenced
Patta, encumbrance certificate, classification, and co-owner consent, attached. "Title is clear" is not a document.
04
Connectivity treated as a formality
A lender wants the utility's written position on spare capacity at the named substation. An assumption here invalidates the whole schedule.
05
No offtake, or an offtake in principle
Who buys the power, at what tariff, for how long, and how creditworthy are they. This is the single largest determinant of a sanction.
06
An average DSCR
Debt service coverage has to be shown for every year of the tenure. A healthy average conceals the year the loan is not serviced, and that is the year the lender is asking about.
What this means for a downloaded template
Every one of the six failures above is a failure of evidence, and a template cannot supply evidence. That is why there is no template on this page. The structure is above, ungated, and it is genuinely the useful part. The other half is your documents, your coordinates and your utility's answer.
Getting one written
Ask for a scope, not a template
Tell us the capacity, the district and who you need the report to convince. We will come back with a written scope: which of the fifteen sections your case actually needs, what inputs you have to produce before anyone can start, what it will cost and how long it will take. If your site has not been screened yet we will say so, because a report written ahead of that is money spent twice.
Roughly what it costs
₹50,000 to ₹2.5 lakh for a 1 to 5 MW project, depending on whether it is an internal approval document or a bank-grade report a lender's independent engineer will interrogate line by line.
The difference is measurement. Satellite or measured irradiation, a real geotechnical report and a verified connectivity position are what make it defensible, and they are what cost money.
Blues Renewables is a solar contractor. We write the engineering and cost content of a project report and we will tell you plainly where you need a financial consultant or a lender's engineer instead of us.
Solar project reports, answered
What is a DPR for a solar power plant?
A detailed project report is the document a lender, a DISCOM or a board reads to decide whether to fund or approve a solar plant. It runs 60 to 120 pages for a 1 to 5 MW project and covers site and land title, solar resource assessment, plant design, the single line diagram, evacuation and connectivity, an itemised capital cost estimate, a financial model with IRR and debt service coverage, a sensitivity analysis, statutory clearances and a risk register.
What is the difference between a DPR and a feasibility study?
A feasibility study answers whether the project can work. A DPR assumes it can and sets out exactly how, with the numbers a lender can test. A pre-feasibility note sits before both and is usually two to five pages establishing whether the site is worth studying at all. Paying for a DPR before a feasibility study has cleared the site is the most common way money is wasted at this stage.
Can I use a downloadable DPR template for a bank loan?
Not for a sanction. A template shows you the structure, which is genuinely useful, but a lender is checking site-specific evidence: your land documents, your connectivity approval, irradiation data for your coordinates, and a loss breakdown that reconciles to your design. A generic report with a plausible-looking financial model attached is the single most common reason a file is returned.
What does a solar DPR cost?
Typically ₹50,000 to ₹2.5 lakh for a 1 to 5 MW project, depending on whether it is a document for internal approval or a bank-grade report a lender’s engineer will interrogate. The gap between those two is measurement: satellite or measured irradiation, a real geotechnical report and a verified connectivity position all cost money and are what make a report defensible.
Who prepares a detailed project report for a solar plant?
A consultant or an EPC contractor with an engineering function, and for bank finance it usually needs to be someone the lender recognises. Many lenders also appoint their own lender’s independent engineer to review it, which means the report will be read by someone whose job is to find the weak assumption.
What makes a DPR bankable?
Site-specific evidence rather than industry averages. A named irradiation source with a P90 figure, not just a P50. A loss breakdown that adds up to the claimed performance ratio. A capital cost estimate itemised to the level of a bill of quantities. Debt service coverage above 1.2 in every year of the tenure, not just on average. And a signed or credibly documented offtake arrangement.
Do I need a DPR for a DISCOM connectivity application?
Not usually the full report, but you need most of its technical content: capacity, layout, the single line diagram, protection scheme and evacuation design. Preparing the DPR properly means the connectivity application, the bank file and the board note all draw from one consistent set of numbers instead of three that disagree.
How long does a DPR take to prepare?
Two to six weeks once the inputs exist. The inputs are the constraint: a geotechnical report, land documents, a written connectivity position from the utility and a settled design. Where those are missing, the honest answer is that the report is waiting on them rather than being written.