Economic evaluations of solar thermal energy systems using a levelized energy cost approach
This paper discusses a Levelized Energy Cost (LEC) approach to economic evaluations of solar thermal power plants. Levelized Energy Costs are life cycle costs that include a plant's capital cost, total operation and maintenance cost, taxes, interest, and return on investment. A LEC approach provides an economically correct treatment of these costs and allows an evaluation of alternative solar thermal power systems. In this paper, general economic principals relating to LEC calculations such as the time value of money, discount rate, net present value, and annualized cost are defined and explained. The use of LEC analyses in choosing between alternatives is discussed. Then the simplified approach for calculating an LEC using the standard economic assumptions for solar thermal applications is presented. Finally, a way to easily carry out the LEC calculation on a microcomputer is given.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6315396
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA-13507; CONF-851201-5; ON: DE86004870
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 7. Miami international conference on alternative energy sources, Miami Beach, FL, USA, 9 Dec 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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