Powerplant productivity improvements and regulatory incentives
The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits to be gained from increased powerplant productivity and to validate and demonstrate the use of incentives within the regulatory process to promote the improvement of powerplant productivity. The system-wide costs savings to be gained from given productivity improvement scenarios are estimated in both the short and long term. Numerous reports and studies exist which indicate that productivity improvements at the powerplant level are feasible and cost effective. The efforts of this study widen this focus and relate system-wide productivity improvements with system-wide cost savings. The initial thrust of the regulatory section of this study is to validate the existence of reasonable incentive procedures which would enable regulatory agencies to better motivate electric utilities to improve productivity on both the powerplant and system levels. The voluntary incentive format developed in this study was designed to facilitate the link between profit and efficiency which is typically not clear in most regulated market environments. It is concluded that at the present time, many electric utilities in this country could significantly increase the productivity of their base load units, and the adoption of an incentive program of the general type recommended in this study would add to rate of return regulation the needed financial incentives to enable utilities to make such improvements without losing long-run profit. In light of the upcoming oil import target levels and mandatory cutbacks of oil and gas as boiler fuels for electric utilities, the use of incentive programs to encourage more efficient utilization of coal and nuclear base load capacity will become far more inviting over the next two decades.
- Research Organization:
- Texas Energy and Natural Resources Advisory Council, Austin (USA); Texas Univ., Austin (USA). Center for Energy Studies
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC01-78RG06667
- OSTI ID:
- 6879575
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/RG/06667-T1(Vol.1)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Powerplant productivity improvements and regulatory incentives. Volume 1
Powerplant productivity improvements and regulatory incentives. Volume II
Related Subjects
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
293000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
296000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power
COST
ECONOMICS
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OUTAGES
PERFORMANCE
POWER PLANTS
PRODUCTIVITY
PROFITS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGULATIONS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS