Electricity Generation Costs by Technology

Abstract

The cost of power generation and related technology is an important dimension of energy sustainability since it affects the final price of electricity, choice of technology mix and overall sustainability of the power system. Levelized cost is a simple metric hence widely used to compute the unit cost of power generated from power generation technologies. Limitation of the metric includes lack of consideration for key parameters like inflation, power integration costs, and system costs whose integration would provide a more comprehensive metric for evaluating power generation projects, and the entire power system. The study showed that the Levelized costs of electricity generation for the low carbon technologies have reduced significantly and are now cost competitive with the conventional fossil fuel generation technologies although specific costs are country specific. It was demonstrated that large solar power plants supply cheaper power compared to onshore wind, coal power plants and natural gas power, although it may vary in some factors based on local condition since various factors affect the cost of generation from one place to another. The capital cost of power plants varies widely based on technology as well as within same technology. Fuel cells have the highest capital cost among power plants investigated followed by offshore wind and advanced nuclear power plants. Gas turbines have some of the lowest capital costs. noted that the average price of unit cost of renewable sources namely small PV, largescale PV, onshore and offshore wind as well as biogas has been on a declining trend over the last decade. On the other hand, the average unit price of fossil fuel sources i.e., natural gas, hard coal and lignite coal has been growing. Nuclear, which is a clean non fossil fuel experienced growth in unit price of power which may affect its competitiveness in the energy transition.

Biogas Production and Process Control Improvements

“…Public moist wastes from markets, cafes, restaurants, and food outlets are also frequently used in this procedure, along with biodegradable trash from businesses with high moisture content and degradability. The use of anaerobic digestion to produce biogas acts as a catalyst for improving a country's energy mix while also significantly advancing the preservation of natural resources and defending the environment [30,32,48,49,[63][64][65].…”

Biogas as a Sustainable Fuel and Feedstock: Properties, Purification, and Applications

“…Onsite electricity from biogas can be used directly to avoid or limit electricity power imports from the grid while excess generation can be used for a wide in fuel cells [5,8,126]. Various pathways for use of biomethane for power generation are summarized in Table 3 below.…”

“…It is lighter than air and is highly flammable and hence should be handled with care since it can form explosive mixtures with air at concentrations of 5 to 15%. Methane is not toxic but causes death due to asphyxiation through oxygen displacement in an enclosed environment [44,126]. Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas, which is about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide and can remain in the atmosphere for up to 15 years.…”

“…The main challenge is limited suitable biomass to support widespread deployment of power-to-methane systems using biogenic carbon. Available biomethane production options offer attractive means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a future energy system with large amounts of intermittent renewable power generation [126,136,137].…”

Reviewing the Situation and Prospects for Developing Small Renewable Energy Systems in Poland

“…It has many applications and is an effective solution to the global economic crisis [86]. Many studies have investigated the potential of biogas and biomass as renewable energy sources [78,79,[87][88][89]. Energy production from biogas is particularly important in countries where agriculture is the primary form of production; India is an example.…”