Value chain · CLM-0265
In plain terms
The same report assumes, by default, that a power project is financed 60 percent by debt (at 8 percent interest) and 40 percent by equity investors (who require a 12 percent return), giving a combined after-tax financing cost of about 7.7 percent. It also shows, separately, what happens if that financing cost is higher or lower, from as low as 4.2 percent to as high as 10.0 percent: at the low end, a typical utility solar project costs about 71 dollars per megawatt-hour; at the high end, about 106 dollars. Financing cost matters a lot for a technology like solar or nuclear that is very capital-intensive up front.
The claim as recorded
Lazard's 2026 LCOE+ default cost-of-capital assumption is 60% debt at 8% interest and 40% equity at 12% cost (after-tax IRR/WACC 7.7%); the report separately publishes an after-tax IRR/WACC sensitivity range of 4.2% to 10.0%, and shows average LCOE across all covered technologies rising monotonically with cost of capital across that range (e.g. utility solar average LCOE $71/MWh at 4.2% WACC rising to $106/MWh at 10.0% WACC).
Scope and limits
US-only; cost of capital is stated as "applicable to the asset/plant and not the cost of capital of a particular investor/owner" (source's own footnote) - it is a modelling input, not empirical financing data for any specific real project; should not be used alone to justify a specific SBSP project's assumed cost of capital without independent justification. Notably higher than NASA's own flat 3% real rate; see section 2 of this file.
What it assumes
this claim's own subject IS the assumption set; see CLM-0263 and CLM-0264 for capacity factor and facility-life assumptions by technology, drawn from the same appendix.
Where it comes from
"Analysis assumes 60% debt and 40% equity... After-Tax IRR/WACC" sensitivity table: 4.2%/5.4%/6.5%/7.7%/8.8%/10.0% mapped to Solar PV-Utility average LCOE $71/$76/$82/$89/$97/$106 per MWh.
Basis: USD2026, NOMINAL, N/A (this claim covers assumptions, not a cost outcome)
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-039 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0265
CLM-0265, Energy Aperture, as of 2026.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-146
- CLM-0263A widely used financial-industry cost report estimates 2026 U.S. power costs, without subsidy, as follows: utility solar 40-98 dollars per...CLM-0266The report itself warns that its main headline cost figures leave out the wider costs of running a reliable power grid, things like power...CLM-0300The main international definition of LCOE is the flat price per unit of electricity a power plant would need to be paid, every year of its...CLM-0303A major financial advisory firm's own widely-used LCOE report says plainly that its numbers do not cover intermittency or total system cost.CLM-0312A major financial advisory firm has estimated, using US grid operators' own published figures, what it adds to the cost of wind or solar to...CLM-0470The same financial-industry report separately estimates what it costs to make solar and wind power as reliable as an always-on power plant...CLM-0524Every UK-specific or typical-country cost-of-capital figure found sits well below the 20% rate Frazer-Nash used, even at the top of DESNZ's...