Transparent Cost Database

The data below was downloaded from the Transparent Cost Database at http://en.openei.org/apps/TCDB/.

Chart View: Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)

Date: 2019-10-16 16:03
Data Points: 467
Levelizing Mode: Normalize
Technolo Official
Calculated
EntityId Chart Label Technology gy Year Program
LCOE
g39676 Natural Gas Combustion Tur Combustion Conventional
Turbine Subtype 2014 Number
Combustion Turbine $ 0.143
g39685 Natural Gas Combustion Tur Combustion Conventional
Turbine Combustion Turbine
2014 $ 0.197
Legend
Green indicates the data displayed in the chart.
Yellow indicates a calculated value that is one of the four terms in the LCOE equation.
Blue indicates a value from the reference data based on the levelizing mode.
Gray indicates a calculated value that is not taken from the publication.
White indicates data from the publication (converted in some cases).
Gold indicates a DOE Program Estimate that is displayed on the chart as a gold diamond.
Overnight
Overnight Final
Capital Cost Final Capital
Contingency Capital Cost Capital Discount Lifetime
dollar per Lifetime in Recovery
Factor dollar per Cost, Rate Years
kW including $ 800 $/kW
$ 800 7.00% Years 30 Factor
8.06%
kW
Contingency
$ 1,000 $ 1,000 7.00% 30 8.06%
 Variable Calculated
Present Value Average Max Final Fixed O M OM OM All
LCOE Capital O M All-
Tax Rate of Capacity Capacity Capacity dollar per dollar Inclusive
Cost Term Inclusive
39.20% Depreciation
59% Factor
10% Factor Factor
10% 0.092823258 kW
$ 5.00 $per
4.70 Cost Term
MWh ($/kW)
39.20% 59% 10% 10% 0.116029073 $ 25.00 $ 7.50
Calculated Calculated
Fixed OM Variable LCOE OM LCOD Fuel Reference
Fuel Fuel Cost Heat Rate
Term OM Term Term Cost Term Name
($/kW) ($/kW) .010 Natural G $ 4.40 9000 $ 0.04 Lazard 2014
.036 Natural G $ 4.40 10300 $ 0.05 Lazard 2014
Publication Report Dataset Dataset
Year Author(s) name web source
2014 Lazard Lazard Levelhttp://www.lazard.com/PDF/Levelized%20Cost%20of%20Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.p
2014 Lazard Lazard Levelhttp://www.lazard.com/PDF/Levelized%20Cost%20of%20Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.p
0Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.pdf
0Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.pdf
Chart Settings LCOE Parameters
Fuel Min Max Parameter NormalizedMarket User
View Tax Rate 39% 39% 39%
Year Published 2009 2015
Estimate Year 2009 2014
Selected Publications All publications selected Fuel Cost
Technology Value
bio gas $ 4.40
biomass $ 2.27
coal $ 2.34
natural gas $ 4.40
oil-gas-steam $ 4.40
uranium $ 0.76
default $ 0.00
Discount Rate
Technology NormalizedMarket
Wind, Onshore 7% 6%
Wind, Offshore 7% 8%
Solar, Photovoltaic 7% 10%
Concentrating<br/> Solar Power 7% 10%
Geothermal,<br/> Hydrothermal 7% 7%
Blind Geothermal<br/> System 7% 10%
Enhanced Geothermal<br/> System (EGS) 7% 10%
Small Hydropower 7% 7%
Hydropower 7% 10%
Ocean 7% 20%
Biopower 7% 7%
Distributed Generation 7% 7%
Fuel Cell 7% 10%
Natural Gas<br/> Combined Cycle 7% 7%
Natural Gas<br/> Combustion Turbine 7% 7%
Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Scrubbed 7% 7%
Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Unscrubbed 7% 7%
Coal, Integrated Gasification<br/> Combined Cycle 7% 7%
Nuclear 7% 7%
default 7% 7%
 Plant Lifetime
User Technology Normalized
7% Wind, Onshore 30
7% Wind, Offshore 30
7% Solar, Photovoltaic 30
7% Concentrating<br/> Solar Power 30
7% Geothermal,<br/> Hydrothermal 30
7% Blind Geothermal<br/> System 30
7% Enhanced Geothermal<br/> System (EGS) 30
7% Small Hydropower 30
7% Hydropower 30
7% Ocean 30
7% Biopower 30
7% Distributed Generation 30
7% Fuel Cell 30
7% Natural Gas<br/> Combined Cycle 30
7% Natural Gas<br/> Combustion Turbine 30
7% Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Scrubbed 30
7% Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Unscrubbed 30
7% Coal, Integrated Gasification<br/> Combined Cycle 30
7% Nuclear 30
7% default 30
 Default Capacity Factor
Market User Technology
20 30 Wind, Onshore
20 30 Wind, Offshore
20 30 Solar, Photovoltaic
30 30 Concentrating<br/> Solar Power
30 30 Geothermal,<br/> Hydrothermal
30 30 Blind Geothermal<br/> System
20 30 Enhanced Geothermal<br/> System (EGS)
30 30 Small Hydropower
40 30 Hydropower
20 30 Ocean
30 30 Biopower
30 30 Distributed Generation
30 30 Fuel Cell
30 30 Natural Gas<br/> Combined Cycle
30 30 Natural Gas<br/> Combustion Turbine
30 30 Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Scrubbed
30 30 Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Unscrubbed
30 30 Coal, Integrated Gasification<br/> Combined Cycle
30 30 Nuclear
30 30 default
Normalized Market User
38% 38% 38%
39% 39% 39%
16% 16% 16%
43% 43% 43%
95% 95% 95%
95% 95% 95%
95% 95% 95%
50% 50% 50%
50% 50% 50%
35% 35% 35%
83% 83% 83%
0% 0% 0%
95% 95% 95%
87% 87% 87%
30% 30% 30%
85% 85% 85%
85% 85% 85%
85% 85% 85%
90% 90% 90%
0% 0% 0%
Present Value of Depreciation
Technology NormalizedMarket User
Wind, Onshore 83% 86% 83%
Wind, Offshore 83% 81% 83%
Solar, Photovoltaic 83% 77% 83%
Concentrating<br/> Solar Power 83% 83% 83%
Geothermal,<br/> Hydrothermal 83% 83% 83%
Blind Geothermal<br/> System 83% 77% 83%
Enhanced Geothermal<br/> System (EGS) 83% 77% 83%
Small Hydropower 83% 83% 83%
Hydropower 54% 44% 54%
Ocean 83% 62% 83%
Biopower 83% 83% 83%
Distributed Generation 54% 54% 54%
Fuel Cell 83% 77% 83%
Natural Gas<br/> Combined Cycle 54% 54% 54%
Natural Gas<br/> Combustion Turbine 59% 59% 59%
Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Scrubbed 54% 54% 54%
Coal, Pulverized Coal,<br/> Unscrubbed 54% 54% 54%
Coal, Integrated Gasification<br/> Combined Cycle 54% 54% 54%
Nuclear 59% 59% 59%
default 0% 0% 0%
Levelized Cost of Energy - LCOE

Levelized cost of electricity in cents / kWh. This is an approximation for the price at which electricity would need to be sold to break even.

LCOE Paramaters
Term Units Description Alternative Sources Database Column
Capital Cost US$/Kw Cost of the plant OnghCptCstDlKwInclCtng will be used first, OnghCptCstDlKwInclCtng,
but if not available, the product of the ContingencyFactor,
Contingency Factor and OnghtCptlCostDolPerKw
OnghtCptlCostDolPerKw will be used,
otherwise just OnghtCptlCostDolPerKw.

CRF calculated
t Tax rate paid (applied after depreciation credits).
DPV The present value of depreciation,
depending on the MACRS schedule
(Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery
System

8760 Hrs/Yr Number of hours in a year.

Capacity Yearly average percentage of power as a The average capacity factor defined with AvgCapacityFactor,
Factor fraction of capacity the data point will be used. If that is not MaxCapacityFactor
available, the maximum capacity factor is
used. Otherwise the default value defined
for the technology (16% in normalized
mode).
All Inclusive Total (fixed and variable) cost of operations This value would be used if provided OMAllInclusive
O&M and maintenance of the plant, in $/kW. (divided by the product of the Capacity
Factor and 8760). If this value is not
provided, then the fixed and variable O&M
values would be used as shown in the
formula above.
US$/kW
Fixed O&M Fixed operations and maintenance cost of This will not be used if the All Inclusive FixedOMDolPerKw
the plant per capacity in $ / kW. O&M is available. If this is zero, then this
term will zero out and processing will
continue.
US$/kW
Variable Variable operations and maintenance cost This will not be used if the All Inclusive VariableOMDolPerMwh
O&M of the plant per capacity in $ / kW. O&M is available. If this is zero, then this
term will zero out and processing will
continue.
US$/mWh
O&M If the data point does not have any
operational costs at all, then the same
approach will be used with the Program
Estimates; namely, for the given
technology, if there is a program estimate
for AllInclusive O&M, that will be used. If
not, the program estimates for the
technology fixed and variable O&M will be
used. If none of these exist, then the LCOE
will be set to zero.

US$/kW
Fuel Price fuel cost of the plant in ($/mmBTU) The cost depends on the type of fuel used
US$/MMBtu
Heat Rate The efficiency of the power plant in If the value is not defined in the data, zero HeatRate
converting fuel into electricity is used.
US$/MMBtu
CRF: Capital Recovery Factor

A common element in the levelized cost calculations is capital expenditures. The capital expenditure is turned into annual payments with a
Capital Recovery Factor (CRF) that is defined using a common calculation.

Capital Recovery Factor (CRF) DEFINITIONS

Term Description

D Discount Rate is the assumed effective rate at which future income streams are discounted. Used to compute the capital recovery
factor. In Normalized mode, a single discount rate is used. In Market and User modes, the discount rate can be different for each
technology.

N Lifetime of the Investment. It is the assumed lifetime of a new plant/vehicle and the period over which the investment is computed
(unless specified otherwise)

As noted above, the actual discount rate and investment lifetime parameters may be different depending on the technology and calculation
mode. The descriptions of the different levelized cost calculations define the options.

If the discount rate (D) is zero, then the following formula is used to calculate the CRF.