Energy Technology Expert

Sample Levelized Cost of Energy – the cheapest and most expensive technology

As the third article of the  series on “How to Calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy”, the author is now ready to present the summary of levelized cost per technology group.  Please refer to the first article for the calculation formulas (US NREL and RP MTO) and the second article for the sample input data used in the calculations (rated capacity, overnight cost, fixed and variable O&M cost, fuel cost, efficiency, capacity factor, station use, taxes, economic life, etc.).

Levelized Cost by Technology Group (using RP MTO Formula)

The levelized cost for each technology of given rated capacity is given for the RP MTO formula (with taxes and depreciation).

Conventional Thermal Plants

Oil Thermal (fuel oil) - 300 MW, 0.1397 $/kWh

Orimulsion Thermal (orimulsion) – 100 MW, $0.1030 $/kWh

Gas Thermal (natural gas) – 100 MW, 0.0808 $/kWh

Pulverized Coal Thermal (coal) – 600 MW, 0.0665 $/kWh

Compression Ignition Engines

Reciprocating Diesel Engine (diesel, fuel oil) – 50 MW, 0.1605 $/kWh

Reciprocating Orimulsion Engine (orimulsion) – 50 MW, 0.1143 $/kWh

Gas Turbines (oil, natural gas)

Simple GT – 35 MW, 0.0755 $/kWh

Recuperated GT – 3 MW, 0.0739 $/kWh

Cascaded Humid Air Turbine (CHAT) – 11 MW, 0.0804 $/kWh

Cascaded Humid Air Turbine (CHAT) - 300 MW, 0.0584 $/kWh

Heavy Frame GT – 200 MW, 0.0875 $/kWh

Combined Cycle GT – 500 MW, 0.0607 $/kWh

Advanced Clean Coal

Atmospheric Circulating Fluidized Bed (ACFB) – 350 MW, 0.0682 $/kWh

Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion  (PFBC) -  550 MW, 0.0642 $/kWh

Integrated Gasification Combine Cycle - 250 MW, 0.0617 $/kWh

Nuclear Power (uranium)

Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Advanced – 1,356 MW, 0.0869 $/kWh

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Advanced – 1,460 MW, 0.0574 $/kWh

Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) Once Thru – 1,330 MW, 0.0535 $/kWh

Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) – 1,100 MW, 0.0545 $/kWh

High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) -

GT Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR) -

Breeder Reactors (plutonium)

Hydro Power

Large Hydro – 200 MW, 0.0949 $/kWh

Small / Mini Hydro – 30 MW, 0.0572 $/kWh

Micro Hydro – 0.10 MW, 0.1484 $/kWh

Energy Storage

Pumped Hydro – 1,800 MW, 0.3442 $/kWh

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) – 350 MW, 0.1222 $/kWh

Flywheel Storage – 100 MW, 3.3012 $/kWh

USB Lead Acid Storage – 10 MW, 0.3206 $/kWh

USB Advanced Storage – 10 MW, 1.1229 $/kWh

SMES Storage – 100 MW, 3.2916 $/kWh

Ultracapacitors Storage – 1 MW, 37.3837 $/kWh

Geothermal

Flashed Steam – 50 MW, 0.0754 $/kWh

Wind Farm – 40 MW, 0.0638 $/kWh

Solar PV – 10 MW, 0.2325 $/kWh

Solar Thermal

Solar Thermal Trough – 80 MW, 0.2099 $/kWh

Solar Thermal Tower – 200 MW, 0.1737 $/kWh

Solar Thermal Dish + Stirling Engine – 0.5 MW, 0.2103 $/kWh

Fuel Cells

Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) – 1 MW, 0.1245 $/kWh

Proton Exchange Member Fuel Cell (PEMFC) – 0.25 MW, 0.1048 $/kWh

Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) – 20 MW, 0.1084 $/kWh

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) – 3 MW, 0.0895 $/kWh

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell + GT Hybrid (SOFC-GT) – 5 MW, 0.0954 $/kWh

Biomass Energy

Biomass Direct Combustion – 1,000 MW, 0.0782 $/kWh

Co-Firing with Coal (20% coal) - 150 MW, 0.0387 $/kWh

Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) – 30 MW, 0.0572 $/kWh

Municipal Solid Waste – 100 MW, 0.1679 $/kWh

Land Fill Gas – 3 MW, 0.0493 $/kWh

Sewage Digestion – 1 MW, 0.1831 $/kWh

Ocean Wave – 0.5 MW, 0.0447 $/kWh

Tidal Power – 100 MW,  0.2114 $/kWh

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Questions for the reader:

What is the cheapest technology?

What is the most expensive technology?

How does conventional energy sources such as reciprocating engines, oil and gas thermal, coal thermal, combined cycle GT, etc.  compare with renewables such as hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass?

How does clean coal technologies and nuclear energy compare with conventional and renewables?

Some questions for your country:

What are the power plant technologies in your country?

How much was its original cost when constructed?

What is their age and remaining economic life?

What is their cost of fuel, fixed and variable costs?

What is its levelized cost of electricity for each power plant?

Which is the cheapest and how much?

Which is the most expensive and how much?

What is your generation mix?

What is the average levelized cost of electricity in your country?

Thanks,

Marcial