Hello,

The initial capital cost for energy storage is divided into power capacity cost and energy capacity cost. Power capacity cost is measured in terms of cost per kilowatt (cost/kW), whereas energy capacity cost is denoted by cost per kilowatt-hour (cost/kWh). However, in the LEAP model, I only found the capital cost measured in cost per kilowatt. How can I set the energy capacity cost (cost/kWh) for energy storage meanwhile?

As a workaround, can I add variables for "energy capacity cost" and "energy capacity" by adding user variables? If so, how do I set up the calculation for energy storage cost so that the "initial capital cost = power capacity cost + energy capacity cost"?

Thanks,

Fan

Hi, Fan –

Thanks for your question. You’re correct that right now, LEAP only allows one to specify storage capital costs in terms of cost per power capacity. NEMO actually includes input parameters for storage for both capital cost per power capacity and capital cost per energy capacity, but LEAP doesn’t use the latter. We may change this in the future depending on demand from users.

For the moment, however, it’s necessary to frame all storage capital costs in a LEAP-NEMO model in terms of cost per unit power. We typically do this by calculating the increment of energy capacity associated with each increment of power capacity, and adding the cost of the energy capacity to the cost of the power capacity. This can be done directly in the Capital Cost variable in LEAP, or one can create a user variable for each increment (power and energy) and sum them in the Capital Cost variable. If user variables are employed, they should both have the same unit as Capital Cost (or be readily convertible to that unit).

Regards,

Jason