Economic evaluation of retort gas utilization for electricity generation

This paper analyzes the economic feasibility of the construction of new generation capacities to utilize the retort gas received from a new shale oil plant for electricity production. Three different power generation technologies are studied. To evaluate the profitability of the investment into the project, the Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return methods were used. In addition, the Levelized Cost of Electricity method was applied to estimate electricity cost of these power generation technologies. Our analysis shows that it will be most profitable to construct a combined-cycle gas power plant for the utilization of the retort gas. It provides 11% of return on the investment into this project.