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Legal status

Civilian nuclear power generation is currently prohibited in Australia. There is no lawful approval pathway for a civilian nuclear power reactor under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) s140A or the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 (Cth) s10, and New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania impose additional state-level bans.

Every Australian scenario in this suite is therefore a hypothetical “what-if” model. Nothing here represents that deployment in Australia is imminent, presently lawful, or an invitation to invest. See the disclaimers.

Calculator hub  /  Module 01

Calculator 01

Diesel Replacement Cost & CO2

If a hypothetical site’s diesel generation were displaced by firm on-site power, what fuel cost and what Scope 1 emissions would the site not incur?

Site assumptions

1,000kWe

Default 1,000 kWe, matching the Unity Battery nameplate of 1 MWe.

85per cent

The metro figure is the national retail average; the remote and extreme-remote figures are project-derived and are not independently published. Enter a site quote where one exists.

Eligibility for fuel tax credits depends on the entity and the use. This is a presentation option only, not an eligibility determination. See the ATO rate table.

0.30L/kWh

Industry-typical blended-load range 0.25–0.40 L/kWh.

5years

Default 5 years, matching the stated Unity refuelling cycle. Cumulative figures are undiscounted and hold every input constant across the period.

0.65USD per AUD

Used only to convert the US-dollar Unity Battery planning figures to Australian dollars for the comparison.

Adds one full unit’s capital and service charge to the Unity side. A more conservative comparison; the diesel side carries no equivalent allowance either way.

Both factors are derived from the DCCEEW National Greenhouse Accounts Factors. Scope 1 is the default and the basis reported under NGER.

Illustrative annual diesel cost avoided

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Illustrative annual CO2-e avoided

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Annual energy served

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Annual diesel volume avoided

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Litres per year at the entered specific fuel consumption.

Cumulative fuel cost avoided over 5 years

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Undiscounted. Every input held constant.

Cumulative CO2-e avoided over 5 years

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Tonnes CO2-e on the selected emissions basis.

Unity Battery case over 5 years

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Cost difference over the period

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Cumulative-cost crossover

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Implied diesel energy cost, for comparison against the independent benchmark

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Forward-looking illustration These outputs are forward-looking statements: scenario estimates built from the assumptions you have entered and the constants listed below. They are based on assumptions that may not prove correct and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results would differ materially. No representation or warranty is given as to the achievement of any figure shown. Outputs describe avoided cost, emissions or noise at a hypothetical operating site — they are not returns, yields, distributions or any measure of investment performance. Civilian nuclear power is not currently lawful in Australia, so this scenario could not be built today.

Cumulative cost: keep running diesel, against the Unity Battery case

The diesel line is the cumulative fuel cost only of continuing to generate with diesel on the entered assumptions — it excludes diesel plant capital, maintenance and operating labour, which favours the diesel side. The Unity Battery line is upfront capital plus the recurring fuel-and-service charge, both company-stated planning figures that have not been independently verified. Neither line is a complete total cost of ownership. For the comparison built on the independent A$/MWh remote-generation benchmark instead, see Module 5.

What this output does and does not include

  • Diesel fuel cost only. It excludes generator capital cost, maintenance, overhaul, lubricants, fuel storage, spill management, freight contingency, and the labour of running a diesel plant — all of which are real and site-specific.
  • The Unity Battery case includes only the stated unit price and the stated recurring fuel-and-service charge. It excludes siting, civil works, licensing, insurance, decommissioning, financing and every other cost a real deployment would carry. Both figures are Deployable Energy planning figures — no unit has been sold or delivered commercially at the stated price.
  • The cost difference and crossover outputs are arithmetic on the entered inputs, one side of which is unverified. They are not a saving, a return, or a projection.
  • Emissions are combustion emissions from the diesel avoided. Fuel-supply-chain emissions are included only if the Scope 1 + 3 basis is selected.
  • No car-equivalence or household-equivalence framing is offered, because no cited Australian equivalence factor has been verified for this suite.
  • Cumulative figures are undiscounted and assume a flat fuel price. Real delivered diesel prices move.

Method

The formulas, in full

Annual energy (kWh/yr) = Capacity (kWe) × CapacityFactor × 8,760 Annual diesel volume (L/yr) = Annual energy (kWh/yr) × SFC (L/kWh) Effective price (A$/L) = DeliveredPrice − FuelTaxCredit (if applied) Annual fuel cost (A$/yr) = Annual diesel volume (L/yr) × Effective price (A$/L) Annual CO2-e (t/yr) = Annual diesel volume (L/yr) × EmissionFactor (kg/L) ÷ 1,000 Cumulative fuel cost = Annual fuel cost × Years Cumulative CO2-e = Annual CO2-e × Years Implied energy cost (A$/MWh)= Annual fuel cost ÷ (Annual energy ÷ 1,000) Unity units required = Capacity (kWe) ÷ 1,000, rounded up Unity capital (A$) = Units × US$10M ÷ FX Unity service charge (A$/yr) = Units × US$350k ÷ FX Cumulative Unity cost = Unity capital + Unity service charge × Years Cost difference = Cumulative fuel cost − Cumulative Unity cost Crossover year = first year cumulative diesel ≥ cumulative Unity

The implied energy cost is shown so the entered scenario can be checked against the independent remote-mine benchmark of A$240–450/MWh (ECD Online citing AECOM analysis), which consolidates the CEFC ranges. That benchmark is a full generation cost including capital and maintenance, whereas the implied figure here is fuel only — so the implied figure should normally sit below the benchmark. If it sits above, the entered fuel price, specific fuel consumption or both are outside the range the published benchmarks describe.

The benchmark is a cross-check. It never replaces the delivered fuel price and specific fuel consumption as the calculator’s actual inputs.

The Unity Battery side is built from the company-stated indicative unit price (US$10M per 1 MWe unit) and recurring fuel-and-service charge (US$350k per unit per year). These are Deployable Energy planning figures, not independently verified, and no unit has been sold or delivered commercially at these prices. Loads under 1 MWe still carry one full unit’s capital. No N+1 redundancy allowance is applied unless the standby-unit option is selected, and none is ever applied to the diesel side.

A project-derived figure of A$800–1,110/MWh exists for a specific 1 MWe N+1 Australian case. It sits materially above every independent published benchmark, is retained only as an explicitly labelled project-specific sensitivity, and is never used as a default here. It appears in Module 5 behind an opt-in control.

Provenance

Constants and sources

General information only

This calculator provides general, illustrative information only about hypothetical energy-generation scenarios. It does not take into account your personal circumstances, objectives or financial situation, and does not constitute financial product advice, an offer of securities, or a recommendation to invest in Deployable Energy Fund Limited, Deployable Energy Limited, or any other entity. Figures are drawn from third-party Australian government, regulator and industry sources (cited on this page) and, where expressly badged, from Deployable Energy’s own unverified planning assumptions. They are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. The Unity Battery microreactor has not yet been deployed commercially, and civilian nuclear power generation is not currently permitted in Australia under the EPBC Act and the ARPANS Act (and, in several states, additional state legislation). Nothing on this page should be relied upon as a representation that deployment in Australia is imminent or currently lawful.

See the full disclaimers and important notices.