Steam turbine life cycle cost evaluations and comparison with other power systems

The steam turbine has been a key component in electrical power generation since the 19th century, as one of the distinctive outcomes of the industrial revolution. In this chapter, we will show the method of cost evaluations and how they change with time. As well as depreciation accounting, diversification of society's needs leads to better innovation and raises the level of technology. The concept of technological learning is explained to find out how much costs decline with the popularization of technologies. Some generating technologies use similar components and these components learn at the same rate as these units are built. Technological progress mainly depends on three learning sources: learning-by-doing, research and development activity, and knowledge spillover.