Reviewing electricity generation cost assessments

Abstract: Studies assessing the electricity generation cost of various power generating technologies are becoming increasingly common and references to such studies can often be heard in the public debate. Different studies do however often present significantly different results. This is a problem as electricity generation cost assessments are important when it comes to choosing and designing future energy systems. In this thesis, existing electricity generation cost assessments are reviewed and issues and differences with current methodologies are investigated. As many of the reviewed studies lack detailed sensitivity analyses, an electricity generation cost model has been implemented in order to shed some light on the sensitivity in the produced results. The thesis shows that different methodological approaches and assumptions have a significant impact on electricity generation cost results. The habit of generalising electricity generation costs in a public context can also be questioned. Generation costs tend to be site-specific and sensitive to changes in input parameters. Another finding is that current methodologies are not suitable for comparing intermittent and dispatchable power generating technologies. The reasons are missing electricity system cost perspective and failure to account for differences in production profiles.