Geothermal handbook: PlanninG and Financing power Generation t e c h n I c a L r e p o r t 2 / 2

T A B L E 1 . 8
Plant Characteristics*
PLANT
FUEL CAPACITy ECONOMIC 
LIFE
INVESTMENT 
COST 
ANNUALIZED 
INVESTMENT 
COST
VARIABLE
O&M
COST
FIXED
O&M
COSTS
EFFICIENCy/ 
HEAT RATE
MW
yEARS
US$/kW
US$/kW/yr
US$/MWh
US$/
kW/yr
% BTU/
kWh
MSD
HFO
20
20
1,900
257
7.5
47
43
7,862
Steam 
Turbine
HFO
200
25
2,500
321
2.1
34
31 11,006
Steam 
Turbine
Coal
250
25
2,250
289
2.1
34
32 10,663
Combustion 
Turbine
NG
100
20
730
99
2.4
9.8
28 12,186
Combined 
Cycle
NG
150
25
1,500
192
1.5
24.5
53
6,438
Combined 
Cycle
LNG
150
25
1,500
192
1.5
24.5
53
6,438
Combined 
Cycle
FO #4 150
25
1,500
192
1.5
24.5
53
6,438
Combustion 
Turbine
FO #4 100
20
800
108
2.5
12
28 12,186
Small Wind 
Turbine
Wind
0.5
30
2,260
282
4
55
Large Wind 
Turbine
Wind
1.5
30
1,700
212
2
35
Small 
Hydropower
Hydro 20
40
2,500
304
4
20
Large 
Hydropower
Hydro 500
50
2,800
337
1
15
Geothermal
Steam 50
30
3,000
374
2
35
*Discount Rate 12% 
 
Source | Fernando Lecaros.
I
n the upper part of Figure 1.19, the steepest curve corresponds to a combustion turbine running on 
gas oil (FO #4), with a low initial capital cost, but rapidly increasing unit cost due to fuel consumption 
at higher capacity factors. 
The screening curve provides a first approximation towards selecting different types of power plants, 
particularly when choosing among alternatives that can achieve high capacity factors, which is not 
the case with intermittent renewable energies, such as wind or run-of-river hydropower. The ideal and 
most cost-effective combination, theoretically, lies on the lower envelope of the different alternatives as 
shown on the dotted line in the figure.

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45
C h a p t e r 1
T A B L E 1 . 9
Fuel Costs, in US$
FUEL COSTS
VALUE
US$/GJ
Oil $/bbl
74.94
HFO $/L
0.367
8.79
FO #4 $/L
0.500
12.00
Coal $/ton
118.00
4.07
LNG $/m
3
0.287
8.39
Natural Gas $/MBTU
5.00
4.74
Source | Fernando Lecaros.
As shown in the lower part of Figure 1.19, the screening curve provides a first approximation of the 
dispatch of different resources under the load duration curve (LDC).
25
By connecting the starting and 
ending points of the horizontal dotted line in the upper part of the graph to the LDC in the lower part—
which has been done here by vertical dotted lines—the load curve of a given country can show which 
technologies would be most cost effective in providing the system load over a certain demand period 
from peak demand on the top to base-load power at the bottom.