Modelling is so difficult in project finance

Recently moved from LevFin to a Renewable investment role, I thought I was good at modelling, but the project finance model just crushed me

All models have at least 50 tabs, and every row is interlinked by multiple circularity calculation

I have been spending way more extended time than my peers doing the modelling and I’m spending all my spare time understanding the model

Can someone recommend me some learning materials / advice?

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Be patient with yourself. I faced the same issue when starting PF modeling. It is a different skill and takes longer to pickup than normal modeling.

Start with a blank Excel sheet and follow the model build out step-by-step. You can knock it out in a weekend.

The complexities of a real life PF model will be a combination of adding more inter-related economic inputs, modeling geography-specific D&A rules, layering additional debt products, and tax assumptions. Ultimately, all of the additional complexities are folded into the master macro which is a Copy of a Live Range into a Pasted Range (which is folded back into the model) until the Copy - Paste equals Zero. Most of those added complexities are project specific, and I have not found a great one stop resource to learn how to do those step-by-step. To learn those, you need to spend a lot of time in the model.

 

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