Levelized Cost of Electricity Generation by Small Hydropower Projects under Clean Development Mechanism in India

Epari Ritesh Patro, Teegala Srinivasa Kishore and Ali Torabi Haghighi
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Epari Ritesh Patro: Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Teegala Srinivasa Kishore: Electrical & Electronics Engineering, GMR Institute of Technology, Rajam 532127, India
Ali Torabi Haghighi: Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Contrary to conventional fossil fuel-based electricity generation technologies, renewable energy centered technologies, specifically small hydropower, release a lesser amount of anthropogenic greenhouse gases but are normally more expensive. A major segment of the capital investment in the current small hydropower scenario accounts for equipment and construction process costs. The construction and cost administration process are generally limited to analysis of the capital cost of civil constructions, electro-mechanical equipment works, neglecting the costs related to operating and maintaining the plant, replacement or refurbishment, certified emission reductions, among others. Contemporary studies indicate that these costs form a substantial fraction of the total capital investment. Consequently, for cost management and investment decision making, small hydropower plant developers are drawing increased attention in recent years towards conducting life cycle costing studies that take into account the ignored costs. In addition, small hydropower plants in developing nations can become more competitive by trading the emission reductions achieved under the provision of the Clean Development Mechanism, an outcome of the Kyoto Protocol proposed at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this paper, a modest attempt has been made to determine the Levelized cost of electricity generation using life cycle costing methodology, which accounts for all the costs over operating lifetime on a range of small hydropower plants and the results are analyzed.

Keywords: small hydropower plant; cost components; life cycle costing; levelized cost of electricity; clean development mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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