Economic Drivers for RE POWERing the Grid in the 21st Century

摘要

Economic drivers for power generation include capital, fixed and variable costs, as well as tax policies, mandates and other requirements. Optimizing these costs is key to success in today’s deregulated power markets, where revenue comes from bilateral contracts, competitive auctions for power sales and capacity payments. In markets that are still regulated, consumers are pushing back on higher cost power and, in some cases, paying for stranded assets. Generating companies have responded to these economic conditions by slowing development, closing inefficient plants and selling assets at discounted prices. Power markets will have to evolve to provide sufficient revenue for the replacement of generating resources, with or without subsidies. Close evaluation of the various economic models for conventional and renewable generating technology, along with a comparison of generating costs to market prices, can help generating companies select the right investments within existing market structures.