ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains certain fundamental concepts of electric utilities. It presents the different types of electric generating units a utility typically utilizes along with an explanation of how a utility decides which generating units to operate at a given time. The list of Supply options that could potentially be selected by the hypothetical utility to meet its resource needs includes new generating units that could be fueled by natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear energy, or renewable energy. The book selects a few generating unit examples and performs the economic analyses to see which of these would be the best economic choice for our hypothetical utility if it chose to meet its resource needs with new generating units. It discusses why the results to the preceding analyses could easily have been much different.
