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Other Technologies (EIA)

Base year and future cost and performance data (see above) are sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022) projections (EIA, 2022a). The ATB does not assess any scenarios of cost and performance advances in these technologies beyond what is captured in the AEO2022 Reference scenario. For all the technology types covered here, the sections below note default procedures and assumptions, and the Notes and Adjustments table below notes exceptions to these defaults. Because these projections are not developed by the project team, we include only a moderate cost projection.

Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)

Base year and future capital costs are from Table 55 of the AEO2022 Reference scenario (EIA, 2022a) and are adjusted to remove the material price index.

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Costs

O&M costs are from Table 8.2 of the AEO2022 (EIA, 2022b) and are assumed to be constant over time. Because the EIA fixed O&M costs for new power plants do not include property tax and insurance costs as part of their reported cost, we increase the fixed O&M by 20%, which is approximately consistent with the internal property tax and insurance accounting that occurs within EIA's capacity expansion model. 

Capacity Factor

The average capacity factor is the fleet-wide average reported by EIA for 2021. 

Other Default Assumptions

  • Heat Rates: Heat rates are from Table 8.2 of AEO2022 and are assumed to be constant over time.
  • Fuel Prices: Fuel prices are based on the AEO2022 Reference scenario.
  • Financing: Default financial assumptions are used.

Notes and Adjustments

TechnologySubtechnologyNotes and Adjustments
Advanced nuclearAP1000 Pressurized Water Reactor
  • Assumes construction on a brownfield site, with a plant size of 2,156 MW
Advanced nuclearSmall modular reactor
  • Assumes a plant size of 600 MW
BiopowerDedicated biopower plant
  • Fuel costs are representative costs of woody biomass taken from the 2016 Billion Ton Report (DOE, 2016).
  • Regional variations will likely ultimately impact biomass feedstock costs, but these are not included in the 2022 ATB.
  • Assumes a plant size of 50 MW

References

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

EIA. “Annual Energy Outlook 2022.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Energy Information Administration, March 2022a. https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/.

EIA. “Cost and Performance Characteristics of New Generating Technologies, Annual Energy Outlook 2022.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, March 2022b. https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/assumptions/pdf/table_8.2.pdf.

DOE. “2016 Billion-Ton Report.” Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2016. http://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2016-billion-ton-report.

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