Evening Lecture – The economics of nuclear energy in an evolving electricity system: going beyond the Levelised Cost of Electricity

Many OECD member countries are pursuing ambitious objectives in term of both greenhouse gas emission reductions and deployment of variable renewable sources, in particular wind and solar PV. However, the transition towards a low-carbon energy mix and the integration of large shares of variable sources have a profound impact on electricity markets, on the value of existing assets and on the long-term structure of the electricity generation mix.
Classical metrics such as the Levelised Cost of Electricity are no longer sufficient to fully characterise the different attributes of generating technologies in this rapidly evolving landscape. This presentation highlights the most important outcomes of two recent OECD/NEA studies which go beyond plant-level generation costs. A first study looks at system-wide integration costs in decarbonised electricity systems. The second study compares the external costs associated with electricity generation.