This is very interesting.
However, I wonder if the liberals will consider any such review of power costs?? Or will they push ahead with their mantras of solar, wind, no fossil fuels, no nuclear etc.
Unfortunately liberals are in charge now, so we have to wonder what the liberals will allow to go forward. Obama’s EPA is supposed to push policies which will compel many coal fired power plants to close. How we will make up the gap in power generation being lost is unknown.
I’m surprised that wind, with its maintenance intensive rotating mechanical systems, is cheaper than a photovoltaic array.
From the article:
“...The power grid is a jealous bitch and there’s not an iota of storage...”
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Some seem to fail to understand this very basic fact.
This is good data for the most part, thanks for posting it. Understanding the energy mix requires acquiring some basic knowledge, which most FReepers are reluctant to do, preferring instead to just repeat talking points or other nonsense. But this is a serious issue, because the only energy policy that makes sense is an “all the above” policy.
We need a mix of dispatchable and non-dispatchable generation sources, which means nuclear and combined-cycle natural gas in addition to those like coal that keep the lights on today.
Where the author loses credibility is where he starts blathering about dusting solar panels and wind turbine maintenance. He simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about and demeans the rest of his argument by delving into nonsensical speculation. He also fails to point out what I have said on just about every wind-related thread, that is, that utility-scale wind generation can operate on a cost-competitive basis without subsidies. The industry trade newspaper even carried a front-page story to the same effect last month. The technology is not all that different from that used to whisk people around the sky at 500 mph yet you don’t hear jet aircraft being described in the same pejorative terms.
But it really matters little what opinionated writes say about it - science and technology will advance at it’s own pace, given a free market in which to operate where the best solutions will succeed.
Production Tax Credit.
Keep that Wind Generation Lobby money flowing.