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You are viewing an older version of the ATB. Please view the most current version here.

ATB Electricity Data Overview

The electricity sector ATB website provides consistent, freely-available technology-specific cost and performance parameters across a range of R&D advancements scenarios, resource characteristics, sites, fuel prices, and financial assumptions for electricity-generating technologies, both at present and with projections through 2050. It includes capital expenditures, operations expenditures, and capacity factor and also the levelized cost of energy, a summary metric for electricity-generating technologies.

Use the charts and table below to explore ranges, projections, and a tabular summary of ATB data. Interact with the chart, including selection of other parameters, by clicking "More Details" to explore the meaning of the data.

You can also download 2020 ATB data.

Range of LCOE shown initially. Click "more details" above the chart to select CAPEX, capacity factor, or O&M in the 2020 ATB.
Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a summary metric with important limitations. See definitions for Levelized cost of energy, CAPEX, capacity factor, O&M, and all other terms used in the ATB. Here, 2020 ATB cost and performance are summarized by technology for the year specified. For details, see the Representative Technology section of each technology page. Monetary values are in 2018$. The ATB develops original data for renewable technologies, and it relies on AEO2020 (EIA 2020) for fossil, nuclear, and biopower plants. Orange bars reflect the representative ATB plant characteristics, and blue bars represent the full range in the ATB. Natural gas, Coal, Nuclear, and Biopower scenarios are from AEO2020 (EIA 2020). See technology detail for additional information.
CC: combined cycle; CCS: carbon capture and storage; CSP: concentrating solar power; CT: combustion turbine; EGS: enhanced geothermal systems; IGCC: integrated gasification combined cycle; NF: near-field; NSD: new stream-reach development; NPD: non-powered dam; PC: pulverized coal; TES: thermal energy storage

Projections of LCOE shown initially. Click "more details" above the chart to select CAPEX, capacity factor, or O&M in the 2020 ATB.
Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a summary metric with important limitations. See definitions for Levelized cost of energy, CAPEX, capacity factor, and O&M. Here, 2020 ATB cost and performance are summarized by technology for the year specified. For details, see the Representative Technology section of each technology page. Monetary values are in 2018$. The ATB develops original data for renewable technologies, and it relies on AEO2020 (EIA 2020) for fossil, nuclear, and biopower plants.
CC: combined cycle; CCS: carbon capture and storage; CSP: concentrating solar power; CT: combustion turbine; EGS: enhanced geothermal systems; IGCC: integrated gasification combined cycle; NF: near-field; NSD: new stream-reach development; NPD: non-powered dam; PC: pulverized coal; TES: thermal energy storage

Summary of Minimum and Maximum Values of CAPEX, Capacity Factor, O&M and LCOE

Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a summary metric with important limitations. See definitions for Levelized cost of energy, CAPEX, capacity factor, FCR, and O&M. Here, 2020 ATB cost and performance are summarized by technology for the year specified. For details, see the Representative Technology section of each technology page. Monetary values are in 2018$. The ATB develops original data for renewable technologies, and it relies on AEO2020 (EIA 2020) for fossil, nuclear, and biopower plants.
CC: combined cycle; CCS: carbon capture and storage; CSP: concentrating solar power; CT: combustion turbine; EGS: enhanced geothermal systems; IGCC: integrated gasification combined cycle; NF: near-field; NSD: new stream-reach development; NPD: non-powered dam; PC: pulverized coal; TES: thermal energy storage

Assumptions

The figures and table illustrate the selected data dimensions, which are developed using the assumptions described briefly here with links to additional information.

Representative Technologies and Parameters

The specifics of representative technologies, parameter definitions, historical trends, current estimates, and future projections used in the ATB are described in the respective technology section. Links to definitions provide information that applies to all technologies

The levelized cost of energy is a summary metric that combines capital expenditures (CAPEX), operations expenditures (O&M), capacity factor, and projections for "conservative", "moderate", and "advanced" technology advancement scenarios. See levelized cost of energy for information about important limitations of LCOE.

Select a link in the table below to jump to the technology-specific description of each parameter.

Links to Technology-Specific Documentation of CAPEX, O&M, Capacity Factor, and Representative Technology

CAPEX

O&M

Capacity Factor

Representative Technology

Land-Based Wind Land-Based Wind Land-Based Wind Land-Based Wind
Offshore Wind Offshore Wind Offshore Wind Offshore Wind
Utility-Scale PV Utility-Scale PV Utility-Scale PV Utility-Scale PV
Commercial PV Commercial PV Commercial PV Commercial PV
Residential PV Residential PV Residential PV Residential PV
CSP CSP CSP CSP
Hydropower Hydropower Hydropower Hydropower
Geothermal Geothermal Geothermal Geothermal
Battery Storage Battery Storage N/A N/A

Technology Innovation Scenarios

The ATB provides original technology advancement scenarios for renewable electricity-generating technologies. The Conservative, Moderate, and Advanced scenarios that appear in tables and figures refer to a range of assumptions about technology advancement and associated cost and performance. For reference, the ATB provides natural gas, coal, nuclear, and biopower data.

Financial Assumptions Cases

Financial assumptions impact LCOE by changing the cost of capital to finance electricity generation projects. Two project finance structures are used within the ATB: a R&D Only Financial Assumptions Case (R&D Only case) and a Market + Policies Financial Assumptions Case (Market + Policies Case). Independent power producer financing structure is assumed.

Year

The ATB includes current estimates (for the base year) and projections (for the projected years) for each technology.

Cost Recovery Period

The ATB displays three cost recovery period options.

Technology

Each of the technology-specific pages describes the assumptions and methodologies used to develop the data.

Technology Detail

Technology detail indicates resource level and specific technology sub-categories.

Methodology

Please refer to the 2020 ATB Approach and Methodology for details about the methods used to develop the cost and performance projections.

References

The following references are specific to this page; for all references in this ATB, see References.

EIA (2020). Annual Energy Outlook 2020 with Projections to 2050. (No. AEO2020). U.S. Energy Information Administration. https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/AEO2020.pdf


Developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.