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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (27555)	1/19/2003 3:46:59 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Energyplay ... on Energy wpm.co.nz Annual power costs analysis: only gas left to beat Wind remains cheaper than nuclear, continues to look coal in the eye and is still closing the gap on gas. Indeed, in a strictly fair comparison of power generation costs, electricity from the cheapest built wind plant is competitive with all fossil fuel generation. And that's without accounting for the cost of pollution, the "external" costs of producing electricity. These headline conclusions of our exclusive annual analysis of power generation costs are not the stuff of theory. As we also report in WINDPOWER MONTHLY's January issue, a coal-based utility in the United States Northwest is factoring wind into its planning because it is both cheap and reliable compared with other resources. The utility's remarkable vision, however, is not shared by a major competitor in the region. Both Northwest power providers base their assessment of wind on the cost of its production, its transmission, and the theoretical cost of balancing wind's intermittency on a "virtual" imbalance market. Offsetting these costs is the value of wind's green attributes and the federal production tax credit. The result is compared to the marginal cost of energy, currently being set by gas generation. But that is where the two part ways. One sees wind as cheap and reliable. The other sees it as a costly burden. The price of wind power, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder. Our report of the different thought processes behind the sharply conflicting conclusions makes for interesting reading. Both companies should be aware that unlike nuclear and fossil fuel, the strong trend is for wind costs to keep on falling. Read our power costs analysis in this month's issue to find out why. What's more, new operation data for offshore wind power is revealing that wind generation at sea is well on track to be fully competitive with gas by as early as 2010. Seeing is believing. Our unique graphic presentation of the cost of wind power alongside nuclear, coal and gas is a remarkably user-friendly tool for tracking wind's cost competitiveness in a variety of scenarios. Extra copies of the January issue of WINDPOWER MONTHLY are available to new subscribers, on request, while stocks last. (Click here for a full list of sources for this article) The Windicator updated Every three months, WINDPOWER MONTHLY publishes a global update of how much wind power generating capacity is installed, and where, in a country-by-country breakdown. Provisional end-of-year figures for 2002 indicate that wind burst through the 30,000 MW barrier before the New Year. As well as a table of national wind capacity totals, the Windicator page includes snapshot texts indicating the global status quo of wind power development. While the sector's compound annual growth rate is still running at 28% over 12 years -- and wind remains the fastest growing energy sector -- the pace of development slowed last year. Find out why in January's Windicator in WINDPOWER MONTHLY.