Originally posted by: Stunt
Nuclear Power
Operating Costs:
1.82 cents per kilowatt-hour versus 2.13 cents for coal-fired plants and 3.69 cents for natural gas.
Capital Costs:
$1,200 per kilowatt-hour of generating capacity versus more than $1,300 for the latest low-emission (which is not to say low-carbon) coal plants.
Wind Power Company
Operating Costs:
(the costs of operating and maintaining the wind farm) of $0.01 per kWh
Capital Costs:
$1,500,000 per MW for wind vs. $2,100,000 per MW for nuclear with wind taking 4 years to make, nuclear taking 10 years.
Time to build is an important consideration as 6 years more of capital investment is a lot more costly than starting a plant up in 4 years and starting to profit immediately off the plant.
So, if wind is cheaper from a initial capital cost perspective and is almost half the cost to operate, and can be built faster, could we be dealing with a competitor finally?
I know that doing something now is more important than doing it right but don't jump to conclusions.
First check out
http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/2000/08/09.html
then realize that their country which has heavy funding from the Government is only generating 10-15% of their energy needs. Plus, they have constant and steady winds and I don't believe they have tornados, hurricanes, or earthquakes. In California mudslides and fires have to be added.
Thus, they have the ideal situation.
In the U.S. you will have to fight liberal groups whenever a windmill goes up. It seems that winmills kill birds. Thus, there will likely be bird "deterrants" added to public windmills which will have to be monitored. Then the lawsuits will hit when birds are killed.
Consider the NE coast where windmills were about to go up and I believe it was the Kennedy's that killed the project because they did not like the looks.
So, when considering the initial costs you must also consider the costs of the obstructionists. I know, I know... the conservatves are the obstructionists... right? Wrong. We only say that if it is economically feasible why pay a rich guy money so they can make more money. Totally opposite of the liberal elites who want to take the property from the poor and give it to the rich, give tax incentives to the rich, pay the rich.....
Here is some information on what is needed for a windmill:
http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalogpages2/windpower2.htm
Note the steady non-turbulent requirements. The wind becomes turbulent after hitting the windmill so even windmills can't be placed close together.
FInally, check out this site.
http://www.akf.dk/eng/wind.htm
Those trying to keep their budget will play with numbers to make their case sound stronger than it really is. You know, fake but accurate.
Focusing on pure production costs our investigations show that today electricity produced by wind power is more expensive than electricity produced on central power plants. The production costs of the most efficient windmills on the present market (600 kW) are DKK 0.32 per kWh if they are located on average sites. This figure includes back-up costs of DKK 0.04 per kWh. Production costs of a conventional power plant are DKK 0.24-0.25 per kWh. We expect that wind power also in the next 4-5 years will be more expensive than conventional electricity production. Depending on the price and the capacity credit of future windmills we assess that the gap of production costs between wind power and coal power will be DKK 0-0.08 per kWh. Compared to natural gas power the gap of production costs will be DKK 0.02-0.10 per kWh.
And this is in an ideal country! Of course, we were told that by the end of 2000 the cost of producing a Kilo watt of power would be down to $0.0001. We are still waiting!
So, by all means support windmill research. Just don't listen to snake oil salesmen with an agenda. At least without doing your own research.
New designs are allowing them to withstand harsher winds than they initially could withstand. In the beginning a million dollar windmill had to be rebuilt every year because of wind damage. (I can hear some politican now. EUREKA! Just make a law making wind illegal!)
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