Unit price of electricity

The simplest way of assessing the economics of a new power plant is to calculate the unit price of electricity produced by the plant (e.g. /kWh) and compare it with that of a conventional plant. This is the method adopted by many authors [1,2]. Other methods involving net present values may also be used [3,4]. 

In the unit price of electricity (Kk) derived in Section B.2, the dominant factors are the capital cost per kilowatt (CJW), which generally decreases inversely as the square root of the power (i.e. as the fuel price the overall efficiency tjq, the utilisation H hours per year) and to a lesser extent the operational and maintenance costs (OM). 

Operating costs are dependent on site conditions. Factors that impact cost include the amount of site preparation required, properties of the media to be treated (density, water content, etc.), volume of material to be processed, depth of processing, unit price of electricity, and season of the year. Costs can vary by 55 to 77/metric ton between treating dry soil and treating fully saturated soil. In such cases, predrying the soil may become cost effective (D136016, pp. 853-854). 

Declining Block Rate - An electricity supplier rate structure in which the per unit price of electricity decreases as the amount of energy increases. Normally only available to very large consumers. 

The efficient heat pump reduces energy use by 1,676 kWh per year on average. Is the efficient model heat pump a good investment Suppose the incremental cost of the efficient unit, as compared with the less efficient unit, is 1,000, and electricity cost 10 cents per kWh. With this price of electricity, the efficient heat pump reduces electricity costs by 167.60 per year. Taking a simplified approach for purposes of illustration and assuming that each unit lasts indefinitely and has no repair, maintenance, or replacement costs, and ignoring possible tax effects, the internal rate of return may be calculated as 1,000= 167.60/r, which is 16.76 percent per year. If the household can borrow money at, say, 10 percent per year and earn 16.76 percent, the investment makes economic sense. If we assume a 10 percent discount rate, the present value of the investment is 1,676, which exceeds the initial investment cost. The net present value is 676, which indicates that the investment is feasible. 

Initial and target contaminant concentrations, concentration of nontarget ions, soil characteristics and moisture content, quantity of waste, depth to contamination, residual waste handling and processing, site preparation requirements, and electricity and labor rates have a significant effect on the unit price of electrokinetic remediation technologies (D19938G, pp. 16, 17). 

Therefore, even if an installed solar-hydrogen power plant costs 1 billion more than a regular solar plant, this is still under the costs of state-of-the-art nuclear or fossil power plants of the same size range. If the solar collector cost is estimated at 3,000/kW, the life expectancy of the equipment at 25 years, and the interest on investment at 5%, the unit cost of electricity generated will be about 12tf/kWh. This cost is already competitive with fossil-generated peak electricity costs and even with nonpeak electricity prices in some areas. (In June 2007, in Connecticut in my household, we paid 18.9 /kWh for our electricity.)... 

The cost of hydrogen from electrolysis is dominated by two factors (1) the cost of electricity and (2) capital-cost recovery for the system. A third cost factor—operation and maintenance expenses (O M)—adds perhaps 3 to 5 percent to total annual costs. The electrochemical efficiency of the unit, coupled with the price of electricity, determine the variable cost. The total capital cost of the electrolyzer unit, including compression, storage, and dispensing equipment, is the basis of fixed-cost recovery. 

Pulp and paper This sector did little lobbying. Allocation was not considered as important as the expected increase in the price of electricity. There was a certain concern for the allocation to industrial electricity and heat production. They won this battle since industrial power units received 100% of historic emissions, in contrast to the other energy units receiving 80%. The sector was content with the result. 

The major factors significantly affecting the unit price of mixed contamination treatment are (a) site properties (e.g. soil matrix, initial and target contaminant concentrations, moisture content, depth of contamination, concentration of nontarget ions), (b) electrokinetic system applied (e.g. array of electrodes, voltage, type of electrodes), (c) costs of conditioners and their application time, (d) site preparation requirements, (e) variable operation costs (e.g. electricity, labor, residual waste processing). 

According to the forecast for the year 2006, the cost of fuel oil (loco system) will probably approximate 46.5 0/L and the unit cost of electrical energy will be of about 6 0/kWh. The unit cost of raw materials in the year 2006 predicted on the basis of the price in the year 2003 as US 1.48/kg (dry weight) as well as the values of the CE Indexjoos and the predicted CE lndex2oo6 is... 

The total cost of ownership (TCO) approach developed at General Electric Wiring Devices (Smytka and Clemens, 1993) can be used to include the hidden costs of global sourcing. As discussed in Chapter 6, (Section 6.2.4.1) TCO looks beyond the unit price of the item and includes the cost of other factors, such as quality, delivery, supply disruption, safety stock, etc. TCO then assigns a cost to each factor and computes the total cost of ownership with respect to each supplier. Finally the business is awarded to the supplier with the lowest total cost. 

FIGURE 10-10. Price of electricity and natural gas in various regions of the United States (based on data in [33]). 

FIGURE 10-11. Price of electricity relative to price of natural gas for residential customers a United States (2003) b) selected world countries (2002) (based on data... 

In order to determine profitability it is assumed that all electricity produced is earmarked for own use. Therefore, the revenue side will be called the avoided costs of purchasing electricity. The unit rate of electricity adopted is that for the purchase of electricity in the industrial sector. The price for electricity was... 

The price of lignite pet mined ton or pet heat unit is lower than that for higher rank coals. The market for all coals is primarily as boilet fuel for electric power production. Prices ate generally estabUshed by contracts between utiUty and suppHet before mining begins. 

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. 

For much of their history, electric utilities in the United States promoted new uses of power in order to increase their sales and thus their profits. However, during the 1970s, the dramatic rise in world oil prices and growing concern about the environmental impacts of electricity generation (especially... 

As the size of markets have increased and the optimal size of electricity generation units have decreased more electricity markets are being privatized and restructured to allow more competition into the markets and less government control over pricing. 

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