Economic analysis of nuclear power plant for decision making in Thailand

Electricity demand in Thailand from now up to the year 2011 will rise more than 87%. EGAT predicts that total demand will increase from about 16,126 MWe now to about 22,282 MWe in year 2006. Thailand has a diversified energy resource base, consisting of natural gas, oil, lignite, and hydropower. This paper will present the methodology to select power plant, from coal-fired, oil-fired, combined cycle, and nuclear power plants. By using economic analysis for cost benefit analysis (CBA) of the power generation cost of power plant with consideration of the net present worth (NPW) and interest rate return (IRR), it shows that nuclear power plant will offer the lowest IRR, and the highest IRR is combined cycle power plant. While the NPW for the best worthwhile projects and suitable investment is imported coal-fired power plant and the runner-up is nuclear power plant at 4-6 years construction period. (author)