Energy Cost Update

Solar and Wind electricity production costs were 14 cents per kwh not long ago and US utilities were hesitant to add unnecessary costs to consumer bills, also 80% of US electricity was generated by coal fired boilers. This compared to 2 cents per kwh for coal and nuclear and 3 cents per kwh for natural gas. Hydro was 0.2 cents per kwh.

The problem with wind and solar is the installation costs of expensive solar panels and expensive wind turbines. The efficiency of wind and solar is diminished when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine and they do not generate any electricity.

Obama gave consumers and utilities a subsidy to keep wind and solar alive and it expires in 2020. Obama also made federal regulations for building Nuclear Plants impossibly complex and expensive.

Trump refused to succumb to the Climate Change Hoax and supported coal and doubled down on natural gas production.

Utilities kept their coal fired power plants and some switched to natural gas. But utilities also dabbled in solar and wind.

The magic of supply and demand has had an effect on solar panel prices as more utilities suffer through consumer complaints and install wind and solar anyway. Now the cost solar panels that were $4,000 each are now $3,000 each and smaller panels are $1,000 each. So the cost of solar production Is probable down from 14 cents per kwh to 10 cents per kwh. The cost of wind looks down from 14 cents to 13 cents per kwh.

It looks like higher demand for solar panels is resulting in lower costs. The cost of Hydro looks high in the sales job below.

Renewable Energy Costs Take Another Tumble, Making Fossil Fuels Look More Expensive Than Ever

Dominic Dudley, 5/29/19. Forbes 

The cost of renewable energy has tumbled even further over the past year, to the point where almost every source of green energy can now compete on cost with oil, coal and gas-fired power plants, according to new data released today.

Hydroelectric power is the cheapest source of renewable energy, at an average of $0.05 per kilowatt hour (kWh), but the average cost of developing new power plants based on onshore wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), biomass or geothermal energy is now usually below $0.10/kWh. Not far behind that is offshore wind, which costs close to $0.13/kWh.

These figures are global averages and it is worth noting that the cost of individual projects can vary hugely – the cost of producing electricity from a biomass energy plant, for example, can range from as low as $0.05/kWh to a high of almost $0.25/kWh.

However, all these fuel types are now able to compete with the cost of developing new power plants based on fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which typically range from $0.05/kWh to over $0.15/kWh.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2019/05/29/renewable-energy-costs-tumble/#702faa9e8cea

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader