FTI Consulting dropped a report arguing we’ve been calculating the cost of nuclear completely wrong. (FTI Consulting)
For years, the industry has relied on LCOE, a metric that makes solar look cheap by treating all electricity as equal—ignoring the reality that a MW at noon (when power is cheap and abundant) isn’t the same as a MW during a winter freeze.
FTI proposes 2 new metrics: Levelized Value of Energy (LVOE) and Levelized Net Benefit (LNB). Under this framework, nuclear crushes solar in “system value” because it doesn’t require the grid to build expensive backup insurance (batteries, gas plants) to cover its downtime.