Comparison of Cost and Benefits between Wind Power Generation and Coal-Fired Power Generation

With the expansion of wind power installed capacity, the phenomenon of wind curtailment is getting more and more serious. Based on the cost and benefit of wind power plants and coal-fired plants in Jiuquan, Gansu province, this paper focuses on the conflicts between different generation ways. Firstly, by using the dynamic cost analysis method and the marginal cost analysis, the average cost of each additional unit capacity of coal-fired power plants can be calculated. Secondly, according to the theory of product life cycle and the pollution loss method, the monetary value of the environmental impact is calculated in three stages. And the external cost of each unit can be calculated. Thirdly, the cost of wind power plants can be divided into wind power enterprise investment cost and ancillary service cost. By curve simulation, we can get the cost of wind power investment. According to the analysis of load duration curve and on-grid price, we get the total cost of ancillary services. Combined with the tax system and input-output analysis, financial revenue and industry driving benefits of the two generation ways can be calculated. Finally, we find that the total profit of wind power generation is higher and propose policies to promote the development of wind power in China.