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  Combustion plants

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  CO₂ emissions

Combustion plants costs

Combustion power plants burn fuels to make electricity. How will costs for electricity production change in the future? read more

How will the costs of fuel, the costs of building power plants and even the costs of CO₂ emissions change in the future?
Combustion power plants burn fuels to make electricity. To compare their costs to different technologies, you can fill in your assumptions for these technologies.
Below you will find an overview of all types of electricity production used in the model. Of each type we use the most modern, commercially applied technology (with the exception of 'Blue energy').

The model takes into account the lifetime of the power plant. The graph on the right shows how costs compare. hide text

• Fuel

  Nobody can predict future fuel prices. This makes electricity costs hard to predict. What do you think these fuels will cost in the future?

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  Natural gas
  This slider sets the height of your assumed future natural gas price, compared to today's price. Today's price is displayed next to the slider. Gas is mostly traded bilaterally (between two countries or parties) and there is no truly global market. As transport of liquefied gas (LNG) by tankers increases, the gas market will become ever more global. The price of gas currently follows oil prices, but this may well change in future global markets.
  
  For your country it is important to know whether it still has its own supplies of natural gas.
  Oil
  This slider sets the assumed future oil price, compared the current price. This price for WTI Crude Oil is displayed next to the slider. There is well-developed global market for oil. Now that easily accessible oil appears to become more scarce, however, it is increasingly traded bilaterally.
  
  The graph below shows how the oil price has varied over the past decades in terms of 2008 dollars per barrel.
  
  
  
  We refresh the listed price from www.oil-price.net on a weekly basis.
  Coal
  This slider sets the height of your assumed future coal price, compared to today's price. Today's price is displayed next to the slider. There is a global market for coal, but contracts often cover longer periods than oil contracts.
  Biomass
  This slider sets the height of your assumed future price of all biomass products such as biomass for generation of heat and electricity, biogas and biofuels for transport, compared to today's price. Today's price is displayed next to the slider. Currently no well-developed market for biomass exists and pricing mechanisms of biomass are still rather unclear.

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• Investment

  How will the investment costs of these plants change in the future? Many factors are influential: steel prices, environmental laws, technological breakthroughs, etc.

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  Gas plant
  This slider sets the expected change in investment costs for a gas-fired power plant. Costs are compared to current costs.
  
  The past years, many companies around the world have announced plans to build gas-fired power generation capacity.
  Oil plant
  This slider sets the expected change in investment costs for a power plant that burns oil or an oil-derivative like diesel. Costs are compared to current costs.
  Oil-fired plants are hardly being built anymore. Smaller diesel-fired generators are.
  Coal plant
  This slider sets the expected change in investment costs for a coal-fired power plant. Costs are compared to current costs.
  
  The past years, many companies around the world have announced plans to build coal-fired power generation capacity. Also, environmental rules increasingly require these plants to be outfitted with technology to reduce harmful emissions.
  Biomass plant
  This slider sets the expected change in investment costs for a biomass-fired power plant. Costs are compared to current costs. These costs will be similar to investment costs for coal-fired power plants.
  Waste incinerator
  This slider sets the expected change in investment costs for a waste-incinerator plant. Costs are compared to current costs.
  
  Waste-incinerators are often used to generate both heat and electricity.

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• Operations and maintenance

  The costs to run power plants may be different in the future. How do you think these could change?

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  Gas plant
  This slider sets the expected change in operational and maintenance costs for a gas-fired power plant (excluding fuel). Costs are compared to current costs.
  Oil plant
  This slider sets the expected change in operational and maintenance costs for an oil-fired power plant (excluding fuel). Costs are compared to current costs.
  Coal plant
  This slider sets the expected change in operational and maintenance costs for a coal-fired power plant (excluding fuel). Costs are compared to current costs.
  Biomass plant
  This slider sets the expected change in operational and maintenance costs for a biomass-fired power plant (excluding fuel). Costs are compared to current costs. These costs are likely to follow developments for coal-fired power plants.
  Waste incinerator
  This slider sets the expected change in operational and maintenance costs for a waste incinerator that generates electricity (excluding fuel). Costs are compared to current costs.