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Power Plant Construction Costs Fall 3% Over Six Mos
The cost of building new power plants fell 3% over the past six months, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the costs of non-nuclear plants have decreased, according to the IHS CERA Power Capital Costs Index.
June 23, 2009
by Christine Buurma
in Dow Jones
NEW YORK -- The cost of building new power plants fell 3% over the past six months, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the costs of non-nuclear plants have decreased, according to the IHS CERA Power Capital Costs Index.
The IHS CERA index tracks the costs of build coal, gas, wind and nuclear power plants and is indexed to the year 2000.
The decline over the past six months was driven by a decrease in the costs of construction steel, wire, cables, rebar and asphalt. Although the IHS CERA index has fallen since the first quarter of 2008, the decrease was previously driven only by lower nuclear plant costs.
Wind farm costs declined the most steeply, at 11%, as a result of lower wind turbine and tower costs. Nuclear power plant costs slipped 1% on lower materials costs and additional manufacturing capability for key components.
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