According to 2018 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for newly constructed utility-scale electric generators in the United States, annual capacity-weighted average construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems and onshore wind turbines have continued to decrease.
I was discussing the dramatic drop in coal use in the US and the dramatic rise in renewable energy production and one of my many conservative friends* referred me to this report to explain why physics proves that there is no way we can transition to renewable sources affordably, that all the innovation is coming on the fossil fuel side, and that renewables have hit a brick wall and won’t be improving much at all.
A brief decade held considerable cost-efficiency gains in wind and solar. These sustainable technologies are now more cost-effective than any other power generation technologies in general, according to Lazard. Solar and wind technologies simply make more sense.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has been much in the news since it released its report Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2017. Article after article has told us that it said we could see the costs of renewable energy drop to meet those of fossil fuels by 2020.
A recent study finds that wind power saves far more in avoided health care costs than the federal production tax credit for wind energy producers.
David Roberts of Grist recently dug into a couple of academic papers on the topic of cost overruns in the electricity sector. I had been saving the story for someone from our team to cover… but no one was picking it up, so I decided to do so a bit midnight (here in Europe) on … [continued]
Christine Harbin Hanson, the Federal Affairs Manager for Americans for Prosperity, recently wrote an article published on Forbes that shows that she is either very ill-informed on this matter or is simply looking to deceive people. I can only hope it’s the former. Her article incorrectly argues that Renewable Portfolio Standards … [continued]
GE Wind Products GM Keith Longtin showcases the Brilliant 1.6-100's Predictive Power Analytics; Credit: A. Burger/Clean Technica
This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on GE’s Brilliant 1.6-100 wind turbine. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 or the rest of our GE Brilliant Wind Turbine archives for more on the Brilliant 1.6-100 wind turbine. Big Data And The Industrial Internet Meet In The GE Brilliant 1.6-100 Impressively, … [continued]
GE Power & Water Wind Products GM Keith Longtin in front of the Brilliant 1.6-100's battery storage bank. Credit: A. Burger/Clean Technica
This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on GE’s Brilliant 1.6-100 wind turbine. Read Part 1 here, and keep an eye on CleanTechnica or our GE Brilliant Wind Turbine archives for Part 3. Lower Cost Wind Energy + New Revenue-Generating Opportunities The GE Brilliant 1.6-100’s Ramp Control, Predictive Power Analytics, and short-term, grid-scale … [continued]
Opening the hatch and venturing out atop the GE Brilliant 1.6-100's machine head; Credit: A. Burger/Clean Technica
Already competitive with electricity produced by coal and natural gas-fired power plants, GE is driving the cost of clean, green, renewable energy down further with its Brilliant line of wind turbines and power management systems. Incorporating Ramp Control, Predictive Power Analytics, and short-term, grid-scale battery storage in an integrated wind power systems platform, GE Power & Wind believes it’s on the right track when it comes to addressing one of the industry’s persisting criticisms: the intermittent nature of wind.
