The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released the 2018 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB), updating a key source of reliable electricity generation technology cost and performance data used to support and inform electric sector analysis in the United States.
Now in its fourth year, the ATB documents technology-specific information on a broad spectrum of electricity-generation technologies, including wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, biopower, coal, natural gas, and nuclear.
Geothermal technology cost and performance projections will be more extensively updated upon completion of the Geothermal Vision Study. Until then, the projections are based on those documented in 2017 ATB - Geothermal, with the following changes:
Geothermal technology cost and performance projections will be more extensively updated upon completion of the Geothermal Vision Study. Until then, the projections are based on those documented in 2017 ATB - Geothermal, with the following changes:
- The dollar year was updated from 2015 to 2016 with 1.3% inflation.
- Technology-specific financial assumptions are included, as for other technologies in 2018 ATB, using data from Wall 2017.