Economic Analysis of Renewable Energy Projects: The LCOE Metric applied to an A2A Case Study

In this thesis, the economic dimension of renewable energy is analyzed through both a theoretical framework and an applied financial case study. The research focuses on the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) as the key benchmark for comparing technologies over their lifetime, investigating how its major components like CAPEX, OPEX and the cost of capital have evolved over time, how they differ across geographies and how market conditions influence investment decisions in practice. The discussion is then connected to the broader context of the global energy transition, where declining technology costs, shifting policy frameworks and evolving market structures are redefining investment strategies. A dedicated case study on a utility-scale PV investment in the Italian market illustrates these dynamics in practice, providing an applied assessment of long-term economic sustainability. By integrating technical performance and financial modelling, the analysis evaluates project viability under merchant conditions and highlights how market risks, policy uncertainty and structural bottlenecks, which cause variability in the key input parameters, affect investment outcomes. The thesis demonstrates that achieving large-scale renewable deployment will require not only technological progress but also coherent governance, efficient markets and stable financial environments capable of supporting long-term investments.