Consider a coal plant with the following characteristics:

Capital cost of $3300 per kW
CCF of 0.13
FOM costs of $103 per kW-year
Fuel costs of $1.07 per GJ
Utilization of 72% (about 6312 hours per year)
VOM costs of $0.0049 per kWh
Efficiency of 32%
Part 1: What are the fixed costs in dollars per kilowatt-hour?

 $/kWh  
 
Part 2: What are the variable costs in dollars per kilowatt-hour?

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Part 3: What is the total LCOE in dollars per kilowatt-hour?

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Part 4: Is the LCOE more sensitive to the capital cost or to the fuel cost? For example, does doubling the capital cost affect the LCOE more or less than doubling the fuel cost? Enter the word "capital" or "fuel". If the numbers are within 10% of each other, enter the word "same".

   
Part 5: Let's look at the effect of a carbon tax. The simplest way to do this is to add a price for carbon emissions to the cost of the fuel (coal). We'll assume a commonly-discussed carbon tax of $20/tCO2. Looking at our Conversion Sheet, we can see that coal emits 90 kg of CO2/GJ; multiplying these emissions by $20/tCO2 gives us an additional $1.7999999999999998 per GJ to add to the cost of the coal, almost tripling it! What's the new LCOE with this carbon tax?

 $/kWh  
 
Part 6: Would the same carbon tax have more or less of an effect on a natural gas plant? Enter the word "more" or "less". If the numbers are within 10% of each other, enter the word "same".

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Part 1 The fixed costs in dollars per kilowatthour can be calculated as follows Fixed Costs Capital ... View the full answer