Renewable Energy Hits the Wall
Cost is too high, and subsidies too costly
<<For a natural gas plant, the gas to generate a megawatt-hour of electricity costs about $20. That $20 is the economic value of each megawatt-hour generated by wind or solar. Unsubsidized, wind or solar electricity, either one, costs about $80 a megawatt-hour to generate. The difference between $80 and $20 is the subsidy that has to be paid in order to use wind or solar.>>
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<<In Nevada, the Gemini project is in the approval process. It is a 700-megawatt (nameplate) solar plant with an associated battery system that can store 1,400 megawatt-hours of electricity, allowing electricity to be moved from midday, when there may be too much solar electricity, to the late afternoon, early evening, when it is needed. The problem is that batteries are very costly for moving electricity. A megawatt-hour of solar electricity that costs, unsubsidized, $80 during the day ends up costing $270 when moved to the early evening via a battery, based on costs from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The $270 includes the cost of replacing the battery every five years. The batteries have to be air-conditioned; otherwise, they will wear out even faster than in five years. If the day is cloudy, there will be no solar energy, and the battery can't be charged. Backup plants will take care of supplying electricity on cloudy days. Use of batteries with wind is more difficult because there are long periods with too much or not enough electricity.>>
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