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posted by martyb on Wednesday September 11 2019, @07:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the things-prior-to-2038 dept.

Gas Plants Will Get Crushed by Wind, Solar by 2035, Study Says

By 2035, it will be more expensive to run 90% of gas plants being proposed in the U.S. than it will be to build new wind and solar farms equipped with storage systems, according to the report Monday from the Rocky Mountain Institute. It will happen so quickly that gas plants now on the drawing boards will become uneconomical before their owners finish paying for them, the study said.

The authors of the study say they analyzed the costs of construction, fuel and anticipated operations for 68 gigawatts of gas plants proposed across the U.S. They compared those costs to building a combination of solar farms, wind plants and battery systems that, together with conservation efforts, could supply the same amount of electricity and keep the grid stable.

As gas plants lose their edge in power markets, the economics of pipelines will suffer, too, RMI said in a separate study Monday. Even lines now in the planning stages could soon be out of the money, the report found.

Hopefully our electrical distribution grid will still work.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Muad'Dave on Wednesday September 11 2019, @11:11AM (1 child)

    by Muad'Dave (1413) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @11:11AM (#892617)

    TFA says they "... analyzed the costs of construction, fuel and anticipated operations for 68 gigawatts of gas plants proposed across the U.S. They compared those costs to building a combination of solar farms, wind plants and battery systems that, together with conservation efforts, could supply the same amount of electricity and keep the grid stable."

    As I read that, they compared "the costs of construction, fuel and anticipated operations" for gas against "costs to building a combination of solar farms, wind plants and battery systems". Solar farms and wind plants may not have fuel costs, but they don't have "anticipated operation" costs? Please.

    Also, what sort of 'conservation efforts' are they anticipating? A 5% reduction in usage? 10%? There is evidence that saving energy doesn't help much at all with global warming [phys.org].

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 11 2019, @01:00PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday September 11 2019, @01:00PM (#892656)

    Solar farms and wind plants may not have fuel costs, but they don't have "anticipated operation" costs? Please.

    This always disappoints me when I read fast and loose economic analysis of green energy. Yes, the operation costs are lower because of the "free fuel" but the construction and maintenance costs are non-trivial, and in fact, up until very recently, without subsidies it was completely economically infeasible to construct and operate solar or wind farms for the value of the power they produce. You could build one for your own use, if you didn't mind severely overpaying for your power, but beyond that, to build them to sell power to others was just an exercise in losing money - fuel costs included in the competition. Let's also not forget insurance costs related to construction and maintenance injury liability, loss due to acts of God (like a high wind event), etc.

    Yes - subsidies on all sides - and fees, wind farms in particular have traditionally paid "spinning fees" (aka bribes) to local municipalities and power companies for the privilege of selling their power. Solar power in "the Sunshine State" (Florida) is so wrapped up in regulation that the underlying economics are swamped by it.

    Politically, we get the power production modes we choose - analyzing the economics comes down to analyzing the fees and subsidies that have been politically imposed on the various systems.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]