A decade ago, wind power was already basically cost-competitive with conventional power sources, utility-scale solar was significantly more expensive but starting to bloom, and electric vehicles were hardly a blip on the horizon and basically unknown to most of us. How did that change in the past 10 years?
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.
In a new report from Xcel Energy, the company reported unprecedented low bids for wind and solar with storage. Last year, Xcel announced it would close 660 MW worth of coal-fired power capacity at Comanche Generating Station. Xcel subsidiary Public Service Company issue a request for proposals for wind, solar, natural gas, and storage.
Alberta, home to the dirtiest oil on earth, is beginning to transition to renewable energy. It has awarded contracts totaling $1 billion to three companies for 600 megawatts of wind power by 2019.
We have seen the fall of coal. The Dow Jones Coal Index, which stood at over 723 at its high in 2008, was down over 94% to 41.36 on December 8. Just as telling, all of the companies that were its components in 2008 have disappeared. There is now only one company in the index, and it is new, cobbled together out of the wreckage of those that once were.
The plunging cost of wind power has forced the cancellation of a long planned expansion to the coal power generating facility in Holcomb, Kansas.
There’s a problem in human logic that creeps in on a regular basis, and that I would say always has and always will. If someone is very successful in one area of business or life, we have a tendency to give their opinion too much weight in other areas. This … [continued]
Update: I think I buried the takeaway points a bit too far down below the industry background and definitions, so I’m bumping this summary up to the top (so you can understand the problem before reading more details on what leads to the problem and potential solutions): 1. Wholesale electricity is sold to the grid on spot … [continued]
Recently, we have seen a spate of older nuclear reactors shut down by their owners for economic reasons. One of the first bellwethers of this trend was the Kewaunee power plant closure. While the public at large may not be aware, nuclear power plant owners are aware of the increasing … [continued]
