Electricity is produced in every XRefinery™ configuration. The major variation is whether the electricity is a secondary product of an XPetroleum™ plant configuration, or structured as the primary product in an XElectricity™ plant configuration.
Regardless of the configuration, the XFuels XRefinery™ platforms are able to operate on a small fraction of the electricity they produce, typically making over 80% of the electricity produced available for sale to the grid.
In summary, the XFuels XRefinery™ platform is:
- Less expensive to build than currently available renewable energy technologies on the market.
- Less expensive to operate in relation to energy produced.
- Provides greater diversity through multiple product channels: electricity, fuel and chemicals.
- Significantly more profitable on a bottom line basis (EBITA.)
Clean Power at a Better Value
The XRefinery™ technology platform is able to produce electricity at one of the lowest known costs in the energy sector today. The chart below provides a snapshot comparison of Cost per kW/h for electricity generation, using comparison data for each of the leading technologies currently providing power in the United States today.
XElectricity™ Cost Comparison
Note: All chart comparison data (not including XFuels) sourced from the U.S. CA Energy Commission (2009 Report)
1
All costs are from the U.S. CA Energy Commission (2009 Report), and reflect 2007 cost of generation, "based on empirical data collected from operating facilities, research from primary sources, actual costs and surveys of expected costs from experts in the field, and reference documents."
2
The data set – used to generate the chart above – is taken from one of the most advanced comparative financial analysis models for energy generation to date, known as the "levelized cost" approach. The levelized cost of resource represents a constant cost per unit of generation computed to compare one unit's generation cost with other resources over similar periods. These levelized costs are useful for evaluating the financial feasibility of an energy generation technology and comparing the attributes of different generation projects. Since plant characteristics, capital costs, plant operations, financing arrangements, and tax assumptions can vary, different assumptions will produce significantly different levelized cost estimates. The Energy Commission report, and the data set for all technologies above compared to XFuels, uses a consistent set of assumptions to be able to compare the merits of each.
3
Of note, very few of the other technologies listed (in the chart above) can accommodate "micro-sized" power plants (3.5MW or less) at the cost per kW capacity listed. At a minimum, virtually all other technologies listed must be built at 4 to 8 times the size to achieve this low of a per kW price (as shown above). XFuels is unique in our ability to efficiently deploy cost effective "micro" facilities.
4
Three technologies shown on the chart, Nuclear, Ocean Wave, and Offshore Wind, are shown in 2018 costs, given they are not projected to be commercially viable and deployed until that time.
5
The data set shown (in the chart above) is for a "merchant facility." Merchant facilities are plants financed by private investors, which sell electricity to the competitive wholesale power market. The XElectricity™ process economics have also been measured against Investor Owned Utilities and Public Owned Utilities. XFuels is equally attractive in terms of cost comparison. (Certain technologies are substantially less cost when employing government subsidies, etc., for the Public Owned Utility (POU) space. Nuclear energy is an example of this, where the government subsidies for POU purposes bring the cost per kW/h down to around $0.16 (sixteen cents) – which, while better, is still nowhere near competitive in the open market.
6
From this cost comparison approach it can be seen that the XFuels' Cleantech Refinery™ is one of the most promising options currently available in terms of the "fully loaded" process economics.