In Japan, electric power utilities purchase the electricity of independent power producers (IPPs) through competitive bidding, where the evaluation of IPP is based on the avoided costs of corresponding generators of utilities. In this evaluation, however, non-pricing factors such as power flow constraints in the electric power system cannot be considered.
In this paper, we propose a new approach to evaluate economical impacts of IPP, where the electricity of IPP is priced on the basis of total generating costs of the electric power utilities. Such a price to purchase the electricity of IPP is referred to as “breakeven cost”. The main results are summarized as follows:
1) breakeven cost depends upon not only the power flow constraints in the system, but also various factors of IPP such as generating pattern, location and capacity,
2) breakeven cost for the base-type IPP is higher than the avoided cost of corresponding utility generator, because IPP located on demand sides can reduce the transmission power loss in the electric power system,
3) breakeven cost, is affected by available capacity of utility generators. especially for the peak-type IPP generating during only peak demand periods.
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