Energy System Levelized Cost Module

May 13—2025

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Overview

This repository provides an energy system modeling framework to calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH). The model integrates capacity expansion, capital expenditure (CAPEX), operational expenditure (OPEX), fuel costs, and other relevant factors to estimate the cost evolution of various energy sources.

https://github.com/PLANiT-Institute/levelisedcost

Features

LCOE Calculation: Computes levelized costs for nuclear, coal, gas, solar, and wind.
LCOH Calculation: Estimates hydrogen production costs using electrolysis with different energy sources.
Weighted CAPEX Calculation: Handles capacity expansion over time.
Energy Mix Analysis: Supports multiple energy sources including renewable and conventional power generation.
Degradation & Discounting: Accounts for degradation, discount rates, and technology lifespans.

Installation

To use this repository, clone it and install the required dependencies:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_GITHUB/energy-cost-model.git
cd energy-cost-model

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Running the Model

To execute the script and compute LCOE and LCOH:

python levelisedcost_v0.1.py

Configuration

The model reads from an Excel file (data/grid.xlsx), which contains:

Capacity Projections (capacity sheet)
Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) (capex sheet)
Generation Projections (generation sheet)
Fuel Costs (fuelcost sheet)
Electrolysis Parameters (electrolyser sheet)
Discount Rate & Lifespan Assumptions (assumption sheet)

Key Components

`utils.py`

calculate_lcoe(): Computes LCOE for different energy sources.
calculate_lcoh(): Computes LCOH based on electrolysis parameters.
calculate_weighted_average(): Calculates weighted CAPEX considering capacity additions.
forecast_series(): Uses linear regression to predict cost trends.

`levelisedcost_v0.1.py`

Reads energy system data from grid.xlsx.
Computes LCOE for various energy sources.
Computes LCOH using different electricity sources.
Exports results to CSV files (lcoe.csv, lcoh.csv).

Example Output

Upon successful execution, results are saved in the project directory:

lcoe.csv: LCOE values for different energy sources.
lcoh.csv: LCOH values for hydrogen production.