Overnight cost is the cost of a construction project if no interest was incurred during construction, as if the project was completed "overnight."
This concept is used for providing a simplistic cost comparison between power plant projects or technologies, through a ratio with the maximum power the plant can deliver.
The overnight capital cost is a term used in the power generation industry.
It is usually computed by dividing the overnight cost of building the plant by the maximum instantaneous power the plant can deliver. This overnight capital cost does not take into account:
Hence :
The U.S. Department of Energy tracks and makes publicly available levelized cost of energy figures for competing technologies. These figures will vary substantially in other countries due to different energy policies and domestic energy sources.