UV Curing worked example

UV LED Retrofit Payback with retrofit installed cost of 212,500 $: a worked example

What does the result look like when retrofit installed cost reaches 212,500 $? The full calculation is worked below with real intermediate numbers. Use it to build a capital-request payback case for a mercury-to-LED retrofit, or to test whether vendor-quoted savings hold up against your real lamp and energy numbers.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Retrofit installed cost: 212,500 $ (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 85,000)
  • Annual mercury savings: 32,000 $ / yr (unchanged)
  • Annual LED maintenance: 2,200 $ / yr (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Net annual savings = annual mercury savings − annual LED maintenance) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 7.13 years to payback for years to payback, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 29,800 $ / yr for net annual savings.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 212,500 $ for retrofit installed cost.
  • At this operating point the engine returns -63,500 $ for five-year net cash position.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where retrofit installed cost sits at 85,000 $ and the headline result is 2.85 years to payback, this scenario comes in 150% above the baseline at 7.13 years to payback.
  • A figure at this level is achievable when retrofit installed cost is genuinely sustained, not just peaked for a shift. It is a simple, undiscounted payback; it ignores the time value of money, ink or coating reformulation costs, and any throughput gains from instant-on operation, so treat it as a screening number.

Results at a glance

  • Years to payback: 7.13 years to payback (headline result)
  • Net annual savings: 29,800 $ / yr
  • Retrofit installed cost: 212,500 $
  • Five-year net cash position: -63,500 $

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live UV LED Retrofit Payback calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.