Electricity is versatile, clean to use, easy to distribute and supreme to control. Just as important, it is now established that electricity has better productivity in many applications than other energy forms. All this led to the wider utilisation of electricity and its replacement with other forms of energy in many uses. Demand for electricity, although slowed down in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies, is still growing globally at a rate near that of economic growth and, in many countries, at almost 1.5 times that of the demand for primary energy sources. This chapter presents the global electrical power planning, investment and projects.

Chapter Contents:

• 1.1 The value of electricity
• 1.2 Integrated resource planning
• 1.3 The changing electrical power industry scene
• 1.3.1 Reform trends in the electricity supply industry
• 1.3.1.1 Challenges and trends of the power industry in mature economies
• 1.3.1.2 Challenges and trends of the power industry in emerging economies
• 1.3.2 Environmental concerns and the efficiency of generating plant
• 1.3.3 Energy return on energy invested (EROI)
• 1.3.4 Capacity factor in power generation
• 1.3.5 Growing importance of natural gas and shale gas
• 1.3.5.1 Shale gas
• 1.3.6 Rehabilitating, retrofitting and repowering of existing power facilities
• 1.3.7 The importance of demand side management (DSM)
• 1.4 The global electrical power scene
• 1.4.1 Electricity and the world economy
• 1.4.2 Investments in the electricity sector
• 1.5 Cyber security of electrical power system
• References

Inspec keywords: power system economics; investment; power system planning; project management

Other keywords: electrical power projects; electrical power planning; electrical power investments

Subjects: Power system planning and layout; Power system management, operation and economics