The latest trend
in green electricity
is wind or solar
with battery backup.
Costing about ten times
more than the fossil fuel
electricity it displaces.
Ot seven times more
with no batteries.
Not including
hidden subsidies.
Natural-gas plants have
a fuel cost of
about $15
per megawatt hour.
For electric grid stability,
new wind and solar plants
are being equipped with
battery storage.
Wind or solar
with battery
backup the cost
is about $130
per megawatt hour.
Without the
battery backup ,
wind or solar
electricity costs
about $75
per megawatt hour.
The electricity
that's supplied
by wind or solar,
at $75 to $130
per megawatt hour
( not counting subsidies ) ,
could have been generated
in existing fossil fuel plants
for $15 per megawatt hour.
James Hansen
( a famous scientist
warning against
climate change
for many decades )
calls wind and
solar energy
a “grotesque idea”
and a “fantasy.”
And the claim that we
won’t run out of wind
or sunshine is false.
We run out
of sunshine
every night.
And we run out
of wind frequently.
But thanks
to fracking,
we have plenty
of natural gas
for the next
100-years.
Plenty of coal too
-- coal has limited uses
other than generating
electricity.
In modern coal plants,
almost all pollution
is scrubbed away
before the exhaust
goes into the
smokestack.
Residential rooftop
solar energy is an
expensive method
for generating
electricity.
Rooftop solar panels
are small installations
that generate electricity
for about three times more
per kilowatt hour than
the large-scale utility
fossil fuel installations.
The homeowner
does reduce
his consumption
of grid electricity,
reducing his
electric bill.
Excess solar electricity
is sold back to the utility,
often at a price far higher
than the cost of wholesale
electricity.
If the rules
are sufficiently
rigged in favor of
the homeowner,
it is possible
for him, or her,
to save money.
But the utility is expected
to maintain a power line
to the home, and maintain
excess generating capacity
to take over supplying
electricity if it is cloudy,
or it is nighttime.
The true cost
of maintaining
backup service,
exclusive of any
electricity sales,
is around $100
per month,
but utilities
charge only
$10 or $15
a month for
a connection
before the first
kilowatt hour
is sold.
If the utility is forced
to buy the homeowner’s
electricity at retail rates,
the utility may end up
paying much more
than the reasonable
wholesale cost
of the electricity.
Rooftop solar
is a scheme
for making
everyone else
subsidize
the homeowner,
leaving him, or her,
with the delusion
that he's discovered
cheaper electricity.
Grid operators,
except in extreme
circumstances,
are required to accept
all the green electricity
presented to them by
business and home
owners.
So fossil-fuel plants
have to vary their output
to compensate for
the erratic wind and sun.
At times,
the wind and solar farms
are not generating electricity.
So you must have enough
fossil fuel, hydro and
nuclear power to carry
100% of the full load.
The system has to maintain,
and pay for its traditional plants,
regardless of how much wind
and solar capacity is added
to the grid.
The economic
contribution
of wind or solar.
at great expense,
is to reduce
fuel consumption in
fossil-fuel plants,
during times when
wind or solar electricity
is being generated.