Plus, these costs grossly underestimate the costs of renewables. The actual field generation from wind tends to be about 20% of nameplate (Source). So wind really costs five times as much.
Field performance for solar isn't much better. Solar farms generate about 1/3rd the nameplate (Source). Triple the costs for solar.
I wonder if the EPRI study takes into account the massive subsidies? If EPRI only looked at costs for the utility to generate a kWh, then the cost should be bumped again. Taxpayers pick up a big part of the tab to generate a kilowatt-hour of electricity using solar or wind.
Then, we have the transmission costs. No one wants solar plants or wind in their back yard. Fortunately, the best sites are remote, but this adds to the cost. It costs a lot to build the transmission lines to get the electricity to the grid. Who pays? T. Boone Pickens wants taxpayers to pay. I doubt EPRI included transmission costs, which they tend to regard as a separate area and issue.
Of course, the field efficiency for remote solar and wind projects drops with their distance from civilization. Transmission losses can be significant.
Even so, where will they be built? The Kennedys and other powerful, politically connected elite have effectively blocked off-shore win projects that might obstruct their view of an Atlantic uncluttered by the presence of man. Diane Feinstein is halting a solar project in the Mojave Desert out of concern for a desert turtle. As the governator commented, if you can build a solar plant in the Mojave Desert, where can you build one?
Lets face reality, not fiction. Despite hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollar sunk down a liberal rabbit hole, renewables are still not ready for prime time. When they are, the government won't need to ram them down our throats.
The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. We have lots of coal. We can supply our nation's electricity needs for centuries with the coal in the ground, within our borders.
To turn down a cost effective, abundant form of energy for an expensive, intermittent one based on the rantings of a delusional, mentally challenged former politician and a group of grant sucking scientific prostitutes who can't present facts, only unproven theories that can't model the past, let along predict the future, is tantamount to a crime against humanity. But then, that characterizes much of the activities of the government today. /rant
But then, that characterizes much of the activities of the government today. /rant
Your comments are based on truth. Hardly a rant where truth is concerned, and the dictionary lists bombast and extravagance as synonyms, hardly in this case. Well done. Let the dems rant.