Economic Aspects of Water Power

This paper gives a brief survey on the economic relationship of hydro and steam power during the past decade, followed by an analysis of typical hydro power costs, divided into the four components; base cost, incremental capacity, transmission, and tie-in facilities. The value of hydro power is analyzed by comparison with the two main components of steam cost, capacity and energy. The possibilities of increasing installed hydro capacity at low incremental cost are emphasized and a method is described of making such low cost capacity furnish firm peak service on the combined hydro-steam load system.