1. Research & Insights

Levelized Cost of Energy+

Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy+ (LCOE+) is a U.S.-focused annual publication that combines analyses across three distinct reports: Energy (LCOE, 17th edition), Storage, (LCOS, 9th edition) and Hydrogen (LCOH, 4th edition). Lazard first started publishing its comparative analysis of various generation technologies in 2007.

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Key Terminology

The LCOE compares the cost of generating electricity from renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind and solar) to conventional technologies (e.g., gas, coal and nuclear), including across various scenarios and sensitivities. The LCOE allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of different technologies by accounting for factors like generation/output, upfront capital costs, fuel costs, operating and maintenance expenses, and asset lifetimes.

The LCOS, in a similar manner, compares the cost of battery energy storage systems (“BESS”) across a variety of use cases and applications (e.g., 1-hour, 2-hour and 4-hour systems). Additionally, the LCOS provides an illustrative returns-based analysis using tangible examples of BESS applications.

The LCOH provides an illustrative cost-based analysis for the production of Green hydrogen (produced from renewable generation) and Pink hydrogen (produced from nuclear generation). The LCOH also provides an illustrative overview of the cost of using such hydrogen as a fuel source in a gas-peaking asset.

The results of our 2024 analyses reinforce, yet again, the ongoing need for diversity of energy resources, including fossil fuels, given the intermittent nature of renewable energy and currently commercially available energy storage technologies.

George Bilicic Managing Director

Notwithstanding the important conclusions one can draw from our analyses, the pace of change and deployment across the Energy Transition is influenced by a variety of factors beyond the scope of these studies—all of which make the Energy Transition one of the great opportunities and challenges of this era.

Samuel Scroggins Managing Director

Download Lazard's LCOE+ 2024 Report

Lazard's LCOE+ (June 2024) pdf — 1.8MB Download