The PPA escalation rate is an annual escalation rate that Solar Advisor uses to calculate future electricity sales prices based on the first year PPA price. The value applies to  projects with Utility and IPP or Commercial - Third-Party Ownership financing as defined in the Technology and Market window.

Depending on the financial optimization option on the Financing page, the PPA escalation rate is either a user-defined input on the Financing page, or a value that Solar Advisor calculates. When the Automatically minimize LCOE with respect to PPA Escalation Rate option is checked, Solar Advisor finds the PPA escalation rate that results in the lowest levelized cost of energy.

Solar Advisor uses the PPA escalation rate in the iterative search algorithm described in 1st Year PPA Price.