Levelized Costs of Electricity Production by Technology
|
Technology |
Energy Source Fuel |
Operating Mode |
Economic Lifetime
(years) |
Gross Capacity
(MW) |
Direct Cost Levelized
(cents/kWh) |
|
Combined Cycle |
Natural Gas |
Baseload |
20 |
500 |
5.18 |
|
Simple Cycle |
Natural Gas |
Peaking |
20 |
100 |
15.71 |
|
Wind |
Wind; Resource Limited |
Intermittent |
30 |
100 |
4.93 |
|
Hydropower |
Water; Resource Limited |
Load-Following, Peaking |
30 |
100 |
6.04 |
|
Solar Thermal |
|
Parabolic Trough |
Sun; Resource Limited |
Load-Following |
30 |
110 |
21.53 |
|
Parabolic Trough-TES |
Sun; Resource Limited |
Load-Following |
30 |
110 |
17.36 |
|
Parabolic Trough-Gas |
Sun/Natural Gas; Partially resource limited |
Load-Following; Peaking |
30 |
110 |
13.52 |
|
Geothermal |
|
Flash |
Water |
Baseload |
30 |
50 |
4.52 |
|
Binary |
Water |
Baseload |
30 |
35 |
7.37 |
Levelized Costs of Electricity Production for Emerging Technologies
|
Technology |
Energy Source Fuel |
Operating Mode |
Economic Lifetime
(years) |
Gross Capacity
(MW) |
Direct Cost Levelized
(cents/kWh) |
|
Solar Thermal - Stirling Dish |
Sun; Resource Limited |
Load-Following |
30 |
31.5 |
15.37 |
|
Photovoltaic |
Sun; Resource Limited |
Load-Following |
30 |
50 |
42.72 |
|
Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell |
Natural Gas |
Baseload |
20 |
25 |
21.27 |
|
Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell |
Natural Gas |
Baseload |
20 |
25 |
10.15 |
|
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell |
Natural Gas |
Baseload |
20 |
25 |
13.04 |
|
Hybrid Fuel Cell |
Natural Gas |
Baseload |
20 |
25 |
9.41 |
Source: Table 1 & Table 5, California Energy Commission, Comparative Cost of California Central station Electricity Generation Technologies, Staff Report, publication # 100-03-001, August 2003, pgs. 3 & 11.
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