Estimated Cost of New Utility-Scale Generation in California: 2018 Update

This report summarizes cost trends for utility-scale power plants that may be built in California over the next decade, including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and natural gas-fired technologies. As California decarbonizes its electricity system, the costs of technologies will be an important consideration in the choice of new generation resources. The primary focus of the report is levelized cost, the most commonly used metric when comparing costs of the different generation technologies. Levelized cost reflects the cost of building and operating a plant over the lifetime of the facility. The report updates cost trends and assumptions including technology, financing, fuel, emissions, and others.