ECONOMICS
What the unit costs, and what you measure it against.
One investment and then a fixed price per kilowatt-hour. How fast that pays back depends entirely on what you pay today. The headline figure alongside is measured against a diesel generator, because that is what stands on the sites EFLUXER is built for: no connection, so a generator. Already holding a large-user grid connection, it takes years. All three sums are set out below.
- €11.5 mln
- one-off investment, unit only
- €0.0066
- cost per kWh across 40 years
- 6.5
- months, measured against a generator
One 5 MW unit
- 43,800,000
- energy a year
- €11,487,500
- one-off purchase, unit only
- €0.0066
- cost per kWh across the life
- 40
- year stated life
All-in means everything is included: no separate fuel, grid or service charges. The investment in the unit sits outside this. All amounts exclude VAT.
CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW
What the investment does over twenty years
The line counts the avoided power bill as return, measured against what a diesel generator would cost in fuel. Swap that for a grid connection and the line flattens considerably; that sum is in the assumptions below.
View as table
| Year | Cumulative result |
|---|---|
| 0 | -€11,487,500 |
| 1 | €9,773,237 |
| 2 | €31,033,974 |
| 5 | €94,816,186 |
| 10 | €201,119,872 |
| 15 | €307,423,558 |
| 20 | €413,727,244 |
SAVINGS CALCULATOR
Run it on your own numbers.
This calculator uses the same assumptions as the figures above. Change the output, the running hours and your current price, and you see straight away what changes.
What belongs in that figure?
Everything you pay per kilowatt-hour: your network operator’s transport charge, the supply of the electricity itself and the energy tax. All three fall away. Include the fixed charges by dividing them across your annual consumption; on a 1 MW large-user connection the Dutch network charges alone come to €0.027 per kWh in 2026, with supply and tax on top. Running on a generator puts you at roughly €0.49 in fuel alone.
Your result
- Purchase, one-off
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- Energy a year
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- Your current cost a year
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- What you pay EFLUXER after that
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- That is what you save a year
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- Purchase paid off after
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- Cost per kWh in the first year
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- CO₂ avoided a year
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i
The price of the unit at this output, supplied by the manufacturer. The unit only: transport, placement, connection and commissioning are not included. Between models the figure is interpolated; ask for the exact price at your output.
i
Your running hours times your output times the price per kilowatt-hour you set above.
i
Nothing. The unit is a one-off purchase and is yours from then on: no tariff per kilowatt-hour, no fuel and no grid connection. What there is, is two days of maintenance a year; what that costs has not been supplied, so it appears in none of these sums.
i
Your entire power bill, because it disappears. Not just the network operator’s transport charge, but the supply of the electricity itself and the energy tax as well: all three stop the moment your own unit runs.
i
The purchase price divided by what you no longer pay the grid each year. Every year that amount comes off the purchase value; at this point nothing is left outstanding.
i
The full purchase price divided by what the unit delivers in that first year. That is what a kilowatt-hour really costs you if you settle up after one year and put the machine away. Keep it running and this figure drops every year, because it is the same purchase spread across more kilowatt-hours.
i
The CO₂ a diesel generator with the same annual output would emit, at 0.26 litres per kWh and 2.68 kg CO₂ per litre. This covers emissions during use; building the unit and its components carries CO₂ of its own.
What a kilowatt-hour costs youi
The purchase price divided by everything the unit has delivered up to that point. Nothing about the cost changes; it is one amount spread across more and more kilowatt-hours. The moment this figure drops below your own price per kilowatt-hour, the purchase is paid back. That is the same moment as above.
i
The purchase price divided by everything the unit has delivered up to that point. Nothing about the cost changes; it is one amount spread across more and more kilowatt-hours. The moment this figure drops below your own price per kilowatt-hour, the purchase is paid back. That is the same moment as above.
- After 1 years
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- After 2 years
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- After 3 years
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- After 5 years
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- After 10 years
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- After 40 years (stated life)
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Free power after that
- Free power after that
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- What those years are worth
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- Cost per kWh across the full life
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i
The years the unit keeps delivering after it is paid off, up to the end of the stated 40-year life. In those years no power bill stands against the energy you use.
i
The avoided power bill across the remaining years of the stated life. This is what you do not spend, not what you earn.
i
The purchase price divided by everything the unit delivers in 40 years. This is the figure to set beside your own price per kilowatt-hour, and it is the measure an accountant would use.
What this calculator does not account for
- The sum assumes a bare comparison: you already have the surrounding equipment in place. A transformer, housing, the connection to your own installation and the groundwork are not included, and those vary too much by site to put a figure on here. Request a calculation for your own situation and those items go in.
- Maintenance: two days a year according to the manufacturer, but what it costs has never been supplied. As long as that figure is missing, this calculator carries no annual charge.
- The cost of getting a grid connection: transformer, cable route, connection charge and the recurring transport fees. On a heavy connection that runs into six figures, and none of it appears on the grid side of this table.
- The waiting time. In areas with grid congestion new large-user connections sit in a queue, and since 1 July 2026 that applies to small users too. A project standing still costs money that is not counted here.
Everything missing above counts against EFLUXER, with one exception: the connection and waiting costs of the grid. Request a calculation for your own situation and we will put those items in.
All amounts exclude VAT and apply to a single installation. The price per model is supplied by the manufacturer and has not been measured by us.
This calculator needs JavaScript. With it switched off the figures above still stand: they apply to a single 5 MW unit at full output.
TRANSPARENCY
The assumptions behind these figures
Output, price per kWh and lifespan are supplied by the manufacturer and have not been measured by us. The diesel and grid prices come from public sources, with the period stated. These are every assumption the figures above rest on.
You pay nothing after the purchase
The unit is a one-off purchase and is yours from then on. There is no tariff per kilowatt-hour, no fuel and no grid connection, so your entire power bill falls away: transport, supply and energy tax. What there is, is two days of maintenance a year; what that costs has not been supplied, so it appears in no sum here.
Full production
The unit runs at full output all year: 5 MW × 8,760 hours = 43.8 million kWh.
Comparison with a generator
Diesel at €1.867 per litre excluding VAT, worked back from the Dutch national statistics office pump price of €2.259 for 2e kwartaal 2026. Consumption 0.26 litres per kWh, supplied by the manufacturer. Only fuel is counted on the diesel side: the generator, its maintenance and the haulage come on top of that.
VAT and taxes
All figures exclude VAT. Local taxes and subsidies are not included.
Lifespan
40 years expected working life, with two days of planned maintenance a year and a major service every fourth year. What that maintenance costs has not been supplied, so it appears in none of these sums.
Comparison with the grid
Grid power for a Dutch business cost €0.141 per kWh at a draw of 20 to 70 GWh in 2e halfjaar 2025, and €0.219 at 2 to 20 GWh, in both cases including taxes and levies and excluding VAT. Source: Eurostat. If you already hold such a connection, the gap with €0.11 is small and payback takes years.