POWER PLANT COST INDEX: COAL PLANT CONSTRUCTION PRESENTS A LOW-COST OPTION

The PCCI, which is a proprietary measure of project cost inflation similar in concept to the Consumer Price Index, rates nuclear cost index highest at 285. Wind is second highest at 195, while gas comes in third at 190. Coal cost index is the lowest at 172. In other words, coal is the least expensive option when it comes to power plant construction.
That there are more than 120 coal-fueled power plants in the U.S. currently under or near construction, permitted, or in the early stages of development, further reinforces the PCCI and refutes any notion that coal is on its way out.
Joe Lucas, executive director of Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), said coal will remain the lowest cost option even with advancing technology. “As we continue to develop clean coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) the eventual capital cost to build new coal-based power plants will come down even further,” Lucas said.
Additionally, the Coal Utilization Research Council (CURC) reports that with increased technology development and a boost in federal funding, future clean coal technologies such as Pulverized Coal (PC) and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems will be highly competitive and will actually reduce the cost of producing electricity with near-zero emissions.
“We can achieve these goals only if we continue to focus on the investment in advanced clean coal technologies – something that our industry strongly supports,” Lucas said. “I also know that for those who are most pessimistic about coal’s future, the idea of driving down the cost of technology sounds counter-intuitive, but that’s exactly what we’ve seen happen over the last 35 years,” he said. “New technologies made it possible to meet more stringent environmental standards and still kept energy costs low for the consumer.”
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Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is a non-profit, non-partisan group that promotes a dialogue with community leaders across the nation to discuss balancing America's growing demand for electricity with the need to protect the environment. ABEC counts more than 150,000 members nationwide. Because of its prominence in the nation's energy mix, electricity from coal is a major focus of the dialogue. The Web site is www.americaspower.org.