Current and future costs of power generation technologies

The objective of this paper is to identify the issues for further elaboration of power generation cost evaluations and to explore trends of power generation technologies in the future. While environmental externalities and social costs for energy security are partly internalized in current electricity prices, range of cost components and time horizon for cost evaluation should be enlarged to deal with emerging issues such as global environmental protection. Under the present circumstances, nuclear power is one of the most economical and stable sources of electricity in most of the industrialized countries. However, attention should also be paid to new trends in technology innovation, such as new economies associated with decentralized power sources and integration of energy systems. (authors). 8 figs., 4 tabs., 13 refs