Which Is Cheaper. A Small or a Large Unit

摘要

Larger units generally offer the potential for economies-of-scale in both price and manpower requirements and a better heat rate that can greatly reduce the real cost of power generation. On the other hand, smaller units generally offer higher availability, thus resulting in a higher system reliability for a given capacity addition and a proportionately higher load carrying ability. This paper takes a fresh look at the optimum unit size of additional generating capacity under current economic parameters, uncertain load demand, and long leadtimes for building larger units. (ERA citation 11:007355)