Cost of electricity

Exampie A.3.1 The pressures for three steam mains have been set to the conditions given in Table A.l. Medium- and low-pressure steam are generated by expanding high-pressure steam through a steam turbine with an isentropic efficiency of 80 percent. The cost of fuel is 4.00 GJ and the cost of electricity is 0.07 h. Boiler feedwater is available at 100°C with a heat capacity... 

Eig. 8. Cost of electricity (COE) comparison where represents capital charges, Hoperation and maintenance charges, and D fuel charges for the reference cycles. A, steam, light water reactor (LWR), uranium B, steam, conventional furnace, scmbber coal C, gas turbine combined cycle, semiclean hquid D, gas turbine, semiclean Hquid, and advanced cycles E, steam atmospheric fluidized bed, coal E, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined low heating value (LHV) gas G, open cycle MHD coal H, steam, pressurized fluidized bed, coal I, closed cycle helium gas turbine, atmospheric fluidized bed (AEB), coal J, metal vapor topping cycle, pressurized fluidized bed (PEB), coal K, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined, semiclean Hquid L, gas turbine... 

Normal ceU voltages are ca 0.2 V. The power consumption is correspondingly very smaH, and electrorefining is much less sensitive to the cost of electric power than other electrometaHurgical processes. When a diaphragm is used to separate the anodic and cathodic solutions, the ceU voltage increases up to ca 1.2 V, and the power consumption rises accordingly. 

Electrical heating is accomplished with resistance bauds or ribbons which must be electrically insulated from the machine body but in good thermal contact with it. The heaters must be carefully spaced to avoid a succession of hot and cold areas. Sometimes they are mounted in aluminum blocks shaped to conform to the container walls. Their effective temperature range is 150 to 500°C (about 300 to 930°F). Temperature control is precise, maintenance and supervision costs are low, and conversion of electrical energy to useful heat is almost 100 percent. The cost of electrical energy is usually large, however, and may be prohibitive. 

Cost of Gasification-Based Power Systems In the U.S. power industry the capital cost is usually reported in dollars per kilowatt ( /kW) and the cost of electricity (COE) in mills per Idlowatt-hour (a mill is one thousandth of a dollar). Estimation of capital cost and COE... 

While comparison of the absolute capital costs and costs of electricity among different power systems is difficult and uncertain, the structure of these costs is rather typical, and the costs of component units are usually within known ranges. For an oxygen-blown IGCC power system, the breakdown of the capital cost for the four component units is air separation plant (11 to 17 percent), fuel gas plant (33 to 42 percent), combined-cycle unit (32 to 39 percent), and balance of plant (2 to 21 percent). The breakdown of the cost of elec tricity is capital charge (52 to 56 percent), operating and maintenance (14 to 17 percent), and fuel (28 to 32 percent). 

If all these process and economic advantages are reahzed, the cost of electricity l be lowered, making circulating PFBC an extremely attractive coal-fired option for power generation. 

For in-house correlations, the cost of electric motors should be correlated vs. horsepower with voltage, speed, and type of construction as correction factors or parameters. Correction factors for explosion proof or open drip-proof housings could he developed if most of the data is for TEFC (totally enclosed fan cooled) motors. Similarly, correction factors could be developed for 1,200 rpm and 3,600i pm with l.SOOrpm as the base. 

The COP s of specific air conditioners will vary widely with both manufacturer and application. Electricity utility efficiencies will also differ between countries. However, the reason for the economic interest in heat-driven cycles remains clear. Given that primary fuels can cost the consumer approximately 25% of the cost of electricity and that electricity frequently costs more at times of peak demand, there is justification for considering alternative systems. The use of a primary fuel at the point of use can also reduce COj and other emissions. 

But for power station applications, the thermal efficiency is not the only measure of the performance of a plant. While a new type of plant may involve some reduction in running costs due to improved thermal efficiency, it may also involve additional capital costs. The cost of electricity produced is the crucial criterion within the overall economics, and this depends not only on the thermal efficiency and capital costs, but also on the price of fuel, operational and maintenance costs, and the taxes imposed. Yet another factor, which has recently become important, is the production by gas turbine plants of greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide) which contribute to global warming. Many countries are now considering the imposition of a special tax on the amount of CO2 produced by a power plant, and this may adversely affect the economics. So consideration of a new plant in future will involve not only the factors listed above but also the amount of CO2 produced per unit of electricity together with the extra taxes that may have to be paid. 

The performance of these novel plants may be assessed in relation to two objectives— the attainment of good performance (high thermal efficiency and low cost of electricity produced) and the effectiveness of CO2 removal, although the two may be coupled if a CO-) tax is introduced. 

Modifications of the existing plants to sequestrate and dispose of the CO2 will lead to a reduction in net thermal efficiency and an increase in capital cost both these features will lead to increased cost of electricity generation. Whether these plants will be economic in comparison with conventional plants of higher efficiency and less capital cost will be determined by how much the conventional plants will have to pay in terms of a carbon tax. 

Chiesa and Con.sonni [1,3] have made detailed studies of how a CO2 tax would affect the economic viability of several of these cycles when a tax and CO2 removal are introduced. Fig. 8.27 shows their results on the cost of electricity for natural gas-fired plants plotted against the level of a carbon tax (in c/kg CO2 produced), for two of the novel cycles studied here, in comparison with an existing CCGT plant with natural gas firing. 

In electrical power stations a new measure of the performance is the amount of CO2 produced per unit of electricity generated, i.e. A = kg(C02)/kWh this quantity can be non-dimensionalised by writing A = A( 16/44)(LCV) where (16/44) is the mass ratio of fuel to CO2 for methane and (LCV) in its lower heating value. However, presenting the plant s green performance in terms of A directly allows the cost of any tax on the carbon dioxide to be added to the untaxed cost of electricity production most easily. 

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