Research and analysis

Electricity generation costs 2023

Report on levelised cost estimates for electricity generation technologies, detailing methodology, data and assumptions.

From:
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Published
4 August 2023
Last updated
16 November 2023 — See all updates

Documents

Electricity generation costs 2023 (updated 16 November 2023)

PDF, 705 KB, 37 pages

Annex A: Additional estimates and key assumptions (updated 16 November 2023)

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 124 KB

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Annex B: Example levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) calculator

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 83 KB

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Details

Update November 2023

Floating Offshore Wind and Tidal Stream Energy updated (Section 2 and Annex A) alongside the Review of power generation costs for floating offshore wind and tidal stream energy technologies research.

This report presents levelised costs for electricity generation technologies. A ‘levelised cost’ is the average cost of the lifetime of the plant per MWh of electricity generated. They reflect the cost of building, operating and decommissioning a generic plant for each technology.

The report details the methodology, data and assumptions used to generate the levelised cost estimates.

Published 4 August 2023
Last updated 16 November 2023 + show all updates

  1. Floating Offshore Wind and Tidal Stream Energy updated (Section 2 and Annex A) alongside the Review of power generation costs for floating offshore wind and tidal stream energy technologies research.

  2. The August 2023 version of this report had a lower onshore wind load factor which we have now updated to reflect internal modelling used within the department. Updates: Section 2: Onshore wind, p12, tables 2 and 3; the load factor update reduces the onshore wind LCOE - Section 4 charts and tables, pp23-32; Annex A onshore wind columns now reflect the onshore wind load factor change; Section 2 text: Carbon prices (p18) updated to refer and link to published carbon appraisal prices.

  3. First published.

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