Economics of Renewable Energy
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Capital & Operational Expenses for Various Renewable Energy Sources
| Capex ($/kW) | Opex (Cents/KWh) – Not including Capex | Capacity Factor(2) | Levelized cost of production(3) (US Cents/KWh) |
| Biomass | 2000 | 2.6 | 0.75 | 10(1) |
| Geothermal | 2900 | 1.7 | 0.85 | 6 |
| Solar CSP | 4000 | 5 | 0.40 | 15 |
| Solar PV | 5000 | 1.3 | 0.17 | 30 |
| Onshore Wind | 1400 | 2 | 0.30 | 9 |
| Offshore Wind | 2250 | 1.5 | 0.40 | 10 |
| Hydro Energy | 2200 | 1 | 0.45 | 6 |
| Tidal | 2000-4000 | 0.4-1.2 | 0.30(5) | Not known |
| Wave | > 10000? | 0.7-1.0 | 0.35 | Not known |
| Coal(4) | 1000-1300 | 2 | 0.75 | 5-7 |
1: Cost of electricity production from direct-fired biomass
2: Capacity factor: The ratio of the actual output to the nameplate capacity
3: Levelized cost: includes all operational costs, cost of fuel / feedstock and amortized expenses of capital costs
4: Provided for comparison purposes
5.Tidal barrages have about 30% capacity factor. Tidal lagoons areestimated to have a much higher capacity factor, about 60%
Costs do not include transmission and distribution expenses
Thedata provided in the table above have been calculated usingfinancial models. Assumptions are derived from various industrysources and internal judgments.
MSW ROI Analysis | All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 2,000,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -140,400 | b | e x 26 |
| No. of working hours / day | 18 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 5,400 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 432,000 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 18 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 5 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 27,000 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -100,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 218,600 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 10.93 | n | |
| All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 2,000,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -140,400 | b | e x 26 |
| No. of working hours / day | 18 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 5,400 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 432,000 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 18 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 5 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 27,000 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -100,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 218,600 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 10.93 | n | |
| All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 2,900,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -104,040 | b | e x 17 |
| No. of working hours / day | 20.4 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 6,120 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 489,600 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 20.4 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 122,400 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -145,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 362,960 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 12.52 | n | |
Solar Thermal ROI Analysis | All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 4,000,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -144,000 | b | e x 50 |
| No. of working hours / day | 9.6 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 2,880 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 230,400 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 9.6 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 57,600 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -200,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | -56,000 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | -1.40 | n | |
Solar PV ROI Analysis | All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 5,000,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -15,912 | b | e x 9 |
| No. of working hours / day | 4.08 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 1,224 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 97,920 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 4.08 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 24,480 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -250,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | -143,512 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | -2.87 | n | |
Wind Energy ROI Analysis
| All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 1,500,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -43,200 | b | e x 4 |
| No. of working hours / day | 7.2 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 2,160 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 172,800 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 7.2 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 43,200 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -75,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 97,800 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 6.52 | n | |
Hydro Energy ROI Analysis | All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 2,200,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -32,400 | b | e x 30 |
| No. of working hours / day | 10.8 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 3,240 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 259,200 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 10.8 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 64,800 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -110,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 181,600 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 8.25 | n | |
Tidal Energy ROI Analysis
| All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 3,500,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -25,920 | b | e x 12 |
| No. of working hours / day | 7.2 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 2,160 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 172,800 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 7.2 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | 20 | j | |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | 43,200 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 20 years | -175,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 15,080 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 0.43 | n | |
Coal Energy ROI Analysis | All calculations are for 1 MW. All Costs & Revenues in $ |
| Capital Expenditure | 1,200,000 | a | |
| Running Cost | -108,000 | b | e x 20 |
| No. of working hours / day | 18 | c | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | d | |
| No. of MWhs produced in 1 year | 5,400 | e | c x d |
| Govt Rate per MWh of power in $ | 80 | f | |
| Revenue by sale of produced power | 432,000 | g | f x g |
| Carbon Credits | | | |
| No. of MWh / day | 18 | h | |
| No. of working days / year | 300 | i | |
| No. of dollars per ton of CO2 | -20 | j | negative |
| Carbon Credits Receivable | -108,000 | k | h x i x j |
| Amortised Cost = a / 15 years | -80,000 | l | |
| Profits = ( b + h + m + n ) | 136,000 | m | |
| ROI % = n / a % | 11.33 | n | |
