Report Contents

Report#:EIA/DOE-0607(99)

Preface

Trends in Power Plant Operating Costs

Sectoral Pricing in a Restructured Electricity Market

Modeling the Costs of U.S. Wind Supply

Modeling Technology Learning in the National Energy Modeling System

Employment Trends in Oil and Gas Extraction

Price Responsiveness in the NEMS Buildings Sector Models

Annual Energy Outlook Forecast Evaluation

National Energy Modeling System/Annual Energy Outlook Conference Summary

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[1] Integrated power companies are electric utilities that own and operate the generation, transmission and distribution facilities needed to meet the requirements of their franchised customers.

[2]  For further discussion of the changing industry structure, see The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry: Selected Issues 1998, DOE/EIA-0562(98) (Washington, DC, July 1998).

[3] Regulated utilities report their costs in response to both Federal and State regulation. This analysis acknowledges the inherent difficulty of ascribing strict technical meaning to costs reported as “operating,” especially the distinction, if any, between fixed and variable costs. Also, the content and character of reported costs may have changed in the past several years as competitive issues have become more pronounced.

[4] Unless otherwise stated, all the monetary values and calculations presented in this report are given in real 1997 dollars.

[5] Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1998, DOE/EIA-0384(98) (Washington, DC, July 1999), Table 7.8.

[6]  Because many oil and gas steam plants can switch back and forth between fuels, they are aggregated in this analysis.

[7] Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1997, DOE/EIA-0384(97) (Washington, DC, July 1998), Tables 7.8 and A5.

[8]  For more information on changes in the coal industry, see Energy Information Administration, Coal Industry Annual 1997, DOE/EIA-0584(97) (Washington, DC, December 1998), and Longwall Mining, DOE/EIA-TR-0588 (Washington, DC, March 1995).

[9] Twelve specific cost categories are reported for plant operations on FERC Form 1. In Figure 6, the top five are shown individually, and the remainder are grouped in the “Other Expenses” category.

[10] The data provided on FERC Form 1 are reported at the plant level. In some cases, plants consist of units that were built many years apart. To calculate the vintages used in this section, the operation start dates of the first and last units added at a plant were averaged. If they differed by more than 10 years, the plant was excluded. A total of 229 gigawatts or 68 percent of coal-fired capacity was included in the calculations by vintage.

[11] A total of 332 plants for which the primary fuel was reported as either oil or natural gas were included in this analysis. A few of these plants also burned coal as a secondary fuel, especially in the early 1980s.

[12]  Preliminary data from Form EIA-860 indicate that about 612 megawatts of oil and gas steam capacity were retired in 1997.

[13] Note that many of the older oil and gas steam plants brought into service in the 1950s and earlier have been retired in recent years.

[14] Maintenance supervisory engineering and operations supervisory engineering.

[15] Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 1999, DOE/EIA-0383(99) (Washington, DC, December 1998).

[16] Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 1999, DOE/EIA-0383(99) (Washington, DC, December 1998).

Figure 1.  Fossil Steam Plant Operations and Maintenance Costs, 1981-1997.  Sources:  FERC Form 1, "Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others," and Form EIA-412, "Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities" (1981-1997).

Figure 2.  Coal Plant Production Costs, 1981-1997.  Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 3.  Coal Steam Plant Nonfuel Operations and Maintenance Costs, 1981-1997. Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 4.  Coal Steam Plant Capacity Factors, 1981-1997.   Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 5.  Coal Steam Plant Employees (Average for a 300-Megawatt Plant), 1981-1997. Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 16. Oil and Gas Steam Plant Average Capacity Factors by Plant Size, 1981-1997.  Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 17.  Oil and Gas Steam Plant Employees by Plant Size (Average for a 300-Megawatt Plant), 1981-1997.  Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).

Figure 19. Oil and Gas Steam Plant Production Costs by O&M Category, 1981-1997.  Sources: FERC Form 1, “Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others,” and Form EIA-412, “Annual Report of Public Electric Utilities” (1981-1997).