Levelized Cost and Levelized Avoided Cost of New Generation Resources in the Annual Energy Outlook 2016

Release date: August 5, 2016

This paper presents average values of levelized costs for generating technologies entering service in 2018, 2022[1], and 2040 as represented in the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) for the Annual Energy Outlook 2016 (AEO2016) Reference case[2]. The levelized costs for generating technologies entering service in 2022 are presented in the body of the report, with those for 2018[3] and 2040 included in Appendices A and B, respectively. Both a capacity-weighted average based on projected capacity additions across the 22 U.S. regions of the NEMS electricity market module and a simple average of the regional values are provided, together with the range of regional values.

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Footnotes

[1] 2022 is the first year that all technologies are available, given the long lead time and licensing requirements for some technologies.

[2] AEO2016 reports are available at http://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/index.cfm.

[3] Appendix A shows levelized cost of electricity values for plants coming online in 2018 for the subset of technologies available to be built in that year.