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Costs
In numerous situations, the capital costs, fixed costs and variable costs were taken from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2020 Annual Technology Baseline. While this is a United States focused report, it provides lower, mid, and upper cost values for the majority of technologies in our model. Moreover, this data set was utilized by Jaydev et. Al in U.S. electricity infrastructure of the future: Generation and transmission pathways through 2050.
Using the NREL data source provides us with reliable cost figures in one place. Although they are not Canada specific, thus introducing error, it saves significant data collection time and allows us to move forward with other modelling aspects. Once the model is in a more complete form, this data set can be updated to reflect Canadian Numbers.
The following global parameters were applied to the NREL database. Notes on the core_metric_parameter column can be found in each cost section (Capital, Fixed, Variable) below.
| Model Technology | atbyear | core_metric_parameter | core_metric_case | crpyears | technology | techdetail | scenario |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | Coal | IGCCHighCF | Moderate |
| Natural Gas | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | Hydropower | NPD4 | Moderate |
| Hydro Power | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | NaturalGas | CCHighCF | Moderate |
| Onshore Wind | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | LandbasedWind | LTRG4 | Moderate |
| Solar | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | UtilityPV | KansasCity | Moderate |
| Nuclear | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | Nuclear | na | Moderate |
| Biomass | 2020 | See Cost Section | Market | 20 | Biopower | Dedicated | Moderate |
- atbyear = 2020: Published dataset year to take the cost values from
- core_metric_case = Market: Financial Assumption that will only impact LCOE, which we are not using from this database. More infomration here
- crpyears = 20:
- scenario = Moderate: This is the business as usual scenario. The NREL Defenition is "Innovations observed in today's marketplace become more widespread, and innovations that are nearly market-ready today come into the marketplace. Current levels of public and private R&D investment continue. This scenario may be considered the expected level of technology innovation."
The following are the stadard assumptions provided by NREL
- Labor cost: Labor costs are the average of union and nonunion labor rates
- Regional Cost Variation: Capital costs represent a national average benchmark. Regional variations are not applied.
- Materials Cost Index: Materials costs are given in 2018 U.S. dollars, using the Consumer Price Index (BLS, 2020) for dollar year conversions, unless otherwise noted.
- Scale of Industry: Technology costs assume fully mature and industrialized supply chain and manufacturing capacity for a given technology and economies of scale are reached.
- Policies and Regulations: Financial assumptions include current laws and regulatory regimes only.
- Inflation: All values are given in 2018 U.S. dollars, using the Consumer Price Index (BLS, 2020) for dollar year conversions. Projections use an inflation assumption of 2.5% per year
Technology details indicate resource levels and specific technology subcategories. A range giving maximum and minimumm values for each technology are filtered through the technology details column.
NREL provides a representitive value for each category. This value is the one that most closely aligns with recently installed or anticipated near-term installations of electricity generation plants. We used the representitive value cost for each technology as it provides a reliable average baseline number for all geography. If costs are calculated based on region, then the technology details category can be used to find geographicly accurate numbers. The representitive value for each technology is shown in the table below. More information on how this number was calculated can be found on the NREL ATO Webpage
| Technology | Technology Detail | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | EIA Coal-New - High CF | IGCCHighCF |
| Hydropower | Non-Powered Dams Class 4 | NPD4 |
| NaturalGas | EIA Gas CC - High CF | CCHighCF |
| LandbasedWind | Wind Speed Class 4 | LTRG4 |
| Utility Scale PV | Kansas City | KansasCity |
| Nuclear | na | na |
| Biopower | EIA Dedicated | Dedicated |
NOTE: No nuclear range was represented in the ATB
The capital cost for all NREL technologies was found by filtering the core_metric_parameter by Capital Expenditure (CAPEX). This capital expenditure figure includes the general equipment and infrastructure, the electrical infrastructure and connections, the installation cost, the owners cost and the site cost. More information on included CAPEX costs can be found on NREL Defenitions Page
The United States Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy published Technical Targets for Stationary Fuel Cell Systems. This listed the installation cost of combined heat and power fuel cell systems operating on natural gas. We assumed this number to be the capital cost for stationary hydrogen fuel cell systems.
The fixed cost for all NREL technologies was found by filtering the core_metric_parameter by Fixed Operation and Maintence (Fixed O&M). This Operations and Maintenence figure includes insuracnce, property taxes, site security, and project management fees for example. The complete list can be found on the NREL Defenitions Page
he United States Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy published Technical Targets for Stationary Fuel Cell Systems. This listed the Annual maintenance cost equal to 2% of the equipment cost for combined heat and power fuel cell systems operating on natural gas. We assumed this number to be the fixed cost for stationary hydrogen fuel cell systems.
The varaible cost for all NREL technologies was found by filtering the core_metric_parameter by Variable Operation and Maintence (Variable O&M) and Fuel. These values represent the cost of running the power plant, such as operation labour, and the cost of purchasing fuel for the plant. Summing these values together gives us the input variable cost for our model. More information on these values can be found on the NREL Defenitions Page