Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
generally available in signi
cant amounts outside a few countries such as Iceland,
Nicaragua, and the USA. Capital costs for
'
ashing
'
type plants may range from
USD 2,000
4,000/kW, whereas for
'
binary cycle
'
plants the
gure is slightly
-
higher, ranging from USD 2,440
5,900/kW (Table
2
). Standard LCOE values lie in
-
the range of USD 0.09
0.14/kWh, and can be as low as USD 0.05/kW at good sites
-
(Table
2
)[
17
].
One problem with this technology is uncertainty as to its useful life cycle, which
averages no more than 25 years in the best of cases, and as to the possible deg-
radation of the quality of resources. This is a risk that adds to the capital cost, and
given that the up-front investment takes the lion
'
s share of all costs the
nal LCOE
may increase signi
cantly. This is a general problem with all renewable energy
sources, except for biomass when feedstocks are not available at near zero cost.
However, it is more signi
cant in this case because of greater uncertainty. It must
also be pointed out that this cannot strictly be considered as a renewable energy
source, since the reservoirs have a limited life cycle. It is climate-friendly, though,
since there are no emissions of polluting gasses.
These systems are usually operated in continuous time mode, and are therefore
suitable for meeting base-load demand. But, at least in principle, there are no
technical reasons to prevent them being used in other modes such as peak demand
load, or even as back-up reserves. The potential pros and cons of these alternative
modes would have to be carefully assessed though, since there is no prior practical
experience.
Finally, the future prospects for deployment are not signi
cant, partly due to the
fact that the technology is quite mature already and no cost reductions can be
expected, and also because there are better alternatives. This does not mean that the
technology should be neglected, since it has some good properties that might
become signi
cant in the future.
3.7 Summary of Costs Data
In the Tables below, selected data are presented for the LCOE and total capital costs
of the major renewable energies. These are the data discussed in detail in Sects.
3.1
3.6
. The tables are based primarily on data provided by the Irena cost series
[
8
,
18
-
23
] but other less systematic sources and sources that rely more on estima-
tions are also considered [
29
,
41
]. The
-
gures are weighted averages over different
geographical areas. Thus speci
c values may fall outside the ranges presented.
A comparative global assessment is needed at this stage. Such an assessment is
presented in the next section.
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