Results from the OECD report on international projections of electricity generating costs
The International Energy Agency and Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD have periodically undertaken a joint study on electricity generating costs in OECD Member countries and selected non-Member countries. This paper presents key results from the 1998 update of this study. Experts from 19 countries drawn from electric utility companies and government provided data on capital costs, operating and maintenance costs, and fuel costs from which levelized electricity generating costs (US cents/kWh) for baseload power plants were estimated in each country using a common set of economic assumptions. Light water nuclear power plants, pulverized coal plants, and natural gas-fired combined cycle gas turbines were the principal options evaluated. five and 10% discount rates, 40-year operating lifetime, and 75% annual load factor were the base assumptions, with sensitivity analyses on operating lifetime and load factor. Fuel costs and fuel escalation were provided individually by country, with a sensitivity case to evaluate costs assuming no real fuel price escalation over plant lifetimes. Of the three principal fuel/technology options, none is predominantly the cheapest option for all economic assumptions. However, fossil-fueled options are generally estimated to be the least expensive option. The study confirms that gas-fired combined cycles have improved their economic performance in most countries in recent years and are strong competitors to nuclear and coal-fired plants. Eleven out of the 18 countries with two or more options show gas-fired plants to be the cheapest option at 10% discount rate. Coal remains a strong competitor to gas when lower discount rates are used. Nuclear is the least expensive at both 5 and 10% discount rate in only two countries. Generally, with gas prices above 5 US$/GJ, nuclear plants constructed at overnight capital costs below 1 650 $/kWe have the potential to be competitive only at lower discount rates.
- Research Organization:
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris (FR)
- OSTI ID:
- 20013584
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1998 International Joint Power Generation Conference, Baltimore, MD (US), 08/23/1998--08/26/1998; Other Information: PBD: 1998; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 1998 international joint power generation conference (FACT-Vol.22). Volume 1: Fuels and combustion technologies; Gas turbines; Environmental engineering; Nuclear engineering, by Gupta, A.; Natole, R.; Sanyal, A.; Veilleux, J. [eds.], 921 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
03 NATURAL GAS
OECD
POWER GENERATION
COST ESTIMATION
CAPITALIZED COST
OPERATING COST
MAINTENANCE
ENERGY ACCOUNTING
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
COAL
NATURAL GAS
COMBINED-CYCLE POWER PLANTS
COMPILED DATA