Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
Within the reseach topic "Energy System Analysis", Fraunhofer ISE examines the use of energy technologies for different applications, such as the generation of power or heat, grid feed-in or on-site consumption, and also evaluates them from technical and economic perspectives for specific locations.
The benefits to clients from these studies of technical and economical factors are manifold: Evaluations of various energy technologies can serve as a basis for technology assessments, long-term corporate strategies and future investment decisions. Observing the interplay between different technologies within a power plant in an integrated way can underpin decisions concerning the development and construction of a plant, or the technological composition of regional and national energy systems.
Factors including the profile and level of energy yield, system flexibility and the creation of local jobs are called into play in technical comparisons. In contrast, economic assessments focus attention on criteria such as purchase investments, operating costs and electricity generation costs.
In the regularly published study “Levelized Cost of Electricity - Renewable Energy Technologies”, the Energy System Analysis business area not only appraises the electricity generation costs for renewable power generation technologies, but also for fossil fuel power plants, thus enabling cross-technology comparisons. This study both outlines the costs involved in various power generation technologies at the present time, and also forecasts how they will develop in future.