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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.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday September 11 2019, @03:51PM (5 children)
Yes, and all of the other deserts in that area of the US.
The problem that people keep raising is how to efficiently move the energy to far away cities. Maybe factories like steel-making could be built there.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 11 2019, @04:07PM (1 child)
Not a bad idea. They could also move a bunch of Californians in, and house them underground. Eliminating the transmission lines would save bundles of money. Put the work there, put the people there, all they need is water!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @07:26AM
Then we can cut the water and have them die. It's a win-win, they will finally be in socialist utopia they so richly desire, and we will have gotten rid of all the problems they cause.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:08PM
Make it aluminium [wikipedia.org] as your energy buffer: "energy density is 1300 Wh/kg (present) or 2000 Wh/kg (projected)"
See other Aluminium based chemistries [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday September 11 2019, @08:09PM
I think steel making uses a lot of water, and so do most other industries. It's probably easier to move the electricity.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 12 2019, @12:09AM
You don't need to. Insolation (the solar potential of a location) is pretty decent for the majority of the United States. So, most of us can generate the power we need with solar where we are.
Anyone who doubts that should read up on Germany's Energiewende. I think they got something like 23% of their power from renewables last year, and they are much further north and much more overcast than the continental US.
Washington DC delenda est.