Levelized Cost of Energy Calculator

The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) calculator provides a simple way to calculate a metric that encompasses capital costs, operations and maintenance (O&M), performance, and fuel costs of renewable energy technologies.

Note that this does not include financing issues, discount issues, future replacement, or degradation costs. Each of these would need to be included for a thorough analysis.

To estimate the cost of energy, enter values in the fields below. The calculator will return the LCOE expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

For specific values, please see the NREL Annual Technology Baseline (ATB).

Simple Levelized Cost of Energy Calculator

Financial

Periods (Years): ? Enter the length of the analysis period

Discount Rate (%): ? For federal agencies, FEMP provides discount rates for analyzing energy projects. For federal projects use 3% real or 2.5% nominal.

Renewable Energy System Cost and Performance

Capital Cost ($/kW): ? Enter the installed "overnight cost" for the system in $/kW

Capacity Factor (%): ? Capacity Factor (CF) is a fraction. It is the ratio of the annual energy that the system produces to the amount of energy it would produce if it operated at full nameplate capacity for the whole year. A system that runs at full power for every hour of the year would have a CF of 1.0 (100%). A biomass system will typically have a CF of about 0.8. A well-sited wind turbine will have a CF between 0.3 and 0.5. CF for PV systems are typically between 0.1 and 0.2. Click the adjacent map icon for a CF map for PV systems.

Fixed O&M Cost ($/kW-yr): ? Enter any fixed annual Operations and Maintenance cost in $/kW per year here.

Variable O&M Cost ($/kWh): ? Enter any variable Operations and Maintenance cost in $/kWh here

Heat Rate (Btu/kWh): ? Heat Rate describes the amount of fuel burned for each unit of electricity produced. Typical heat rates for traditional, utility-sized power plants are 9000 to 10,000 Btu/kWh. Smaller distributed generation systems, including those fueled with biomass, typically are in the range of 13,000 to 20,000 Btu/kWh. The higher the heat rate, the lower the efficiency. Heat rate = 341,200/(% efficiency). For renewable energy systems that do not require fuel, enter 0.

Fuel Cost ($/MMBtu): ? Enter cost of any fuel here. For renewable energy systems that do not require fuel, enter 0.

Today's Utility Electricity Cost

Electricity Price (cents/kWh): ? Enter today's cost of utility purchased electricity, click the link to the right for more information.

Cost Escalation Rate (%): ? Enter projected nominal/real cost escalation rate of utility purchased electricity over the length of the analysis period. If you entered a real Discount Rate above, be sure to enter a real Escalation Rate here. If you entered a nominal Discount Rate, enter nominal Escalation Rate here. If nominal, enter the cost escalation rate inclusive of general inflation. For example, if general inflation is 1% and your energy cost escalation rate is 2% above inflation, enter 3% as the nominal escalation rate. If real, enter the cost escalation rate above general inflation. For example, if you expect the utility costs to escalate at 3% nominal and general inflation is 1%, enter 2% as the real escalation rate. For federal agencies, FEMP provides utility cost escalation rates by census region. Click the map icon to get FEMP's projected nominal/real utility electricity cost escalation rates

Results

Levelized Cost of Utility Electricity (cents/kWh): ? This is the levelized or annualized cost of electricity from the utility assuming today's cost of electricity escalates at the rate you entered above

Simple Levelized Cost of Renewable Energy (cents/kWh): ? This is the levelized cost of electricity for the alternative renewable energy system

How are these numbers calculated? See documentation

The U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program sponsored the distributed generation data used within this calculator.

The NREL Comparative Photovoltaic Levelized Cost of Energy Calculator can help you understand a more detailed impact of different PV component prices on LCOE.