UKCS Contribution to Delivering UK Environmental Targets

Competing Forms of Electricity Generation

The comparative costs of the competing forms of power generation will continue to drive the mix of new build power generation plant. The Royal Academy of Engineering published a detailed study of the costs of generating electricity in March 2004, (www.raeng.org.uk). This compared a range of technologies including coal plant, gas fired plant, nuclear fission and wind and wave power. Figure 46 provides a comparison of the costs (p/kWhr) including capital operating and decommissioning costs, plus fuel costs. The study showed that modern gas fired plant continues to have a cost advantage against both conventional fossil fuel and renewable plant.

The study highlights that wind power generation requires additional back-up power generation to be installed to provide electricity when there is too little wind or when the wind is too strong. This is supported by current experience where wind power generation load factors in the UK are in the range of 25-30%.

Figure 46: Comparison of New Build Costs for Electricity Generation

Even when a cost of carbon is included at current prices of £10-15/tonne of CO₂, gas fired power generation is still shown to be one of the most cost effective forms of power generation and remains the most environmentally attractive fossil fuel.