I’m curious as to the cost,today,of one killowatt hour of electricity generated by wind vs one generated in more conventional ways.And assuming wind power is a *lot* more expensive than traditional power by how much can wind power be made cheaper over time...if it can be made at all cheaper?
In an area with a strong wind resource and with modern equipment, wind energy can be generated near par with coal/nat gas (but nuke is the cheapest which I also support).
Wind costs are being driven down as the industry continues to develop.
People here mention the problems with wind’s intermittent nature. It’s a valid point but not a problem to the degree people here are saying. When you have thousands of wind farms scattered across a region of the country, coupled with modern wind forecasting techniques which are remarkably good, you’re then able to forecast wind energy across a region’s portfolio of assets rather well and schedule peak plants accordingly. You don’t look at wind energy grid issues as the output and intermittency of ONE wind turbine — you look at a portfolio of hundreds and hundreds of them. More and more operators are able to use wind to chip away at base load.
If you’re interested in knowing more about leading wind forecasting services, here’s a couple of leaders in the field:
www.windlogics.com
www.3tier.com
www.awstruewind.com
I know these firms well. They have some of the most qualified meteorologists and atmospheric scientists you’ll find.