NREL Says 20% Wind Possible in Eastern US by 2024 for $90B

Posted At : January 22, 2010 12:03 AM | Posted By : James Carson
Related Categories: Business & Corporate, Carbon Markets, Clean Power Investing, Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Mgmt, General, Grid Operations, Industry Structure, Overhead Transmission, Policy, Regulatory & Legal, Wind

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory released information on Wednesday and reported by Tom Doggett of Reuters on Thursday.

"Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday.... Reaching the 20 percent threshold for wind by 2024 in the eastern electric grid would require 225,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in the region."

They are going to build 225,000 MW of wind for $90B? Including transmission??? I cannot believe that anyone vetted this at all. On what planet does wind generation cost $400/KW? Certainly not Earth. More likely, NREL meant $90B PER YEAR for the fourteen years. That would be about right.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60J37V20100121?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true

797 Views

3 Comments

Add Comment

Author Bio

Report This Post as Foul/Inappropriate

Add Comment

$90 Billion for the first year, transmission not included (as well as unavailable, as T. Boone Pickens found out in the Texas panhandle); 10 billion/year routine maintenance until the turbines wear out, and another $80 Billion to repair and replace shafts and bearings, or replace the turbines entirely.

http://www.record-eagle.com/opinion/local_story_02...

Wind power vendors REALLY need to automate the inspection process!

# Posted By William Norquay | 1/22/10 1:49 PM | Report This Comment as Foul/Inappropriate

In Minnesota, we have a set of muni's who each bought used windmills from California and erected them. I did a quick calculation and figured out that the payback would be forty-five years based on RTO prices, very optimistic capacity factors (25%) and optimistic operating costs (40% of revenue). Frankly, I doubt that they will realize positive operating cash flow.

I also recall from several years ago a staffer from the local wind-nut organization pronounce in a forum that the maintenance costs for windmills were 'minimal'. I asked him if he really expected us to believe that nonsense, given an electro-mechanical device perched ninety meters in the air in the harsh Minnesota climate.

# Posted By James Carson | 1/22/10 7:07 PM | Report This Comment as Foul/Inappropriate

Here are the links. NREL did mean "annual".

http://www.nrel.gov/wind/systemsintegration/pdfs/2...

http://www.nrel.gov/wind/systemsintegration/pdfs/2...

# Posted By James Carson | 2/5/10 2:53 PM | Report This Comment as Foul/Inappropriate

Add Comment

<< May 2012 >>

Webcasts

Securing AMI at BC Hydro: The Benefits of a Multi-Layered Security Architecture

Customer Analytics Issues, Trends, & Drivers

Demystifying Utility Analytics -- What it's all about, where it's going, and how to get started.

Consumer Engagement & the Role of Mobile Apps

New Challenges for Operating the Utility Enterprise

Smart Grid Analytics: All That Remains to be Ready is You

Conferences / Shows

Peak Load Management Alliance Spring 2012 Conference, sponsored by Consolidated Edison

Grid-Scale Energy Storage