Hydroelectric is the
low cost option for electric power generation at less than 1 cent/kwh. The
average cost of hydro generation is 0.85 cents/kwh. Hydro creates reservoirs to
increase the US clean water supply. Reservoirs are also used for recreation and
boating and increase land values around the lakes.
The US got 7.5% of its
electricity from hydroelectric power plants in 2017. The US produced 300
terawatts of electricity in 2017, up from 268 terawatts in 2004.
The largest hydro
plants are listed in this article.
The largest
electricity generating power plants in the US are listed in this article. It
include nuclear, hydro, natural gas and coal powered systems.
In the U.S., hydropower is produced for an
average of 0.85 cents per kilowatt-hour (kwh). This is about 50% the cost of
nuclear, 40% the cost of fossil fuel, and 25% the cost of using natural gas.
Worldwide, about 20% of all electricity is
generated by hydropower in 2016.
Hydropower provided about 10% of the electricity
in the United States in 2016.
In the US, States and
Power Companies need to keep developing hydroelectric dams and reservoirs to
mitigate floods and increase the reserve water supply to survive droughts.
The cost of creating
these reservoirs involves the purchase of hundreds of acres of land and the
cost of clearing the land to be flooded. It includes grading, water diversion
and constructing the dam. The cost to Power companies involves the construction
of the hydropower facility with turbines and controls.
Near Atlanta GA, the
largest reservoirs are Lake Lanier at 37,000 acres and Lake Allatoona at 12,000
acres. Farmland in Georgia is $2000 per acre. At that price, the State would
pay at least $24 million for 12,000 acres for a reservoir the size of
Allatoona.
The State of Georgia
should have invested $24 million to build a reservoir for a Hydro plant instead
of wasting $24 million on a wildlife preserve.
Given the problems
Georgia Power has had with its expansion of Nuclear Plant Vogel, they would
have been better off developing Hydro and avoiding the gridlocked US government
bureaucracy.
Georgia Power has no
reason to invest in Wind and Solar given the high cost and intermittent
production these methods produce. Wind, Solar and Thermal are good systems for
a wealthy 10,000 acre ranch, not for poor urban and rural consumers.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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