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For Students · Levelized Cost of Energy

Levelized Cost of Energy for a transmission line

Built for students learning it for a class or exam. See the concept move instead of memorizing formulas — and check your homework intuition. Simulate a transmission line live below — adjust the inputs and watch it respond, right in your browser.

Levelized Cost of EnergyLive

the true price per MWh

Controls

Presets

Capital cost ($/kW)

Capacity factor (%)

Discount rate (%)

Lifetime (years)

Fixed O&M ($/kW/yr)

LCOE spreads a power project's lifetime cost over every megawatt-hour it produces, letting wildly different technologies be compared fairly. It rewards high capacity factors and cheap capital, and punishes idle plants. The capital-recovery factor discounts future costs to today. It is the number that has made solar and wind the cheapest new power in most of the world.

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Data Inspector

LCOE$52/MWh

Per kWh5.2¢

Capacity factor25%

Governing equation

LCOE = \frac{C \cdot CRF + O}{C F \cdot 8760} \times 1000 = \frac{1200 \cdot 0.078 + 20}{2190} \times 1000 = 52 $/ MWh

Reading this result: At a 25% capacity factor the plant sits idle most of the time, so its capital is spread over few MWh — that thin denominator is what pushes LCOE up to $52/MWh.

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Frequently asked questions

Is this good for students?: Yes — this version of "Levelized Cost of Energy for a transmission line" is framed for students learning it for a class or exam. See the concept move instead of memorizing formulas — and check your homework intuition.
Do I need to install anything?: No. It runs in any modern browser, free, with no account required.