Officials Hope 1st US Offshore Wind Farm Will Boost Industry

[ScienceRocks]

Officials Hope 1st US Offshore Wind Farm Will Boost Industry
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Jul 27, 2015, 3:55 PM ET
By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press
Officials Hope 1st US Offshore Wind Farm Will Boost Industry - ABC News

Construction has begun off Rhode Island's coast on the nation's first offshore wind farm, a milestone that federal and state officials say will help the fledgling U.S. industry surge ahead.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said Monday that lenders, regulators and stakeholders can now see a path forward.

"It's great to witness a pioneering moment in U.S. history," she said during a boat tour of the site. "We are learning from this in what we do elsewhere. I think it will help the country understand the potential that exists here."

Great news!

 

[Spinster]

If you look to California, Arizona, and other states' wind generator systems you find they aren't efficient in the short or long haul. Each one costs over a million, but then our government subsidies these projects with tax payers' dollars. I think that's real special.

 

[Old Rocks]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0

And, also in Oklahoma, American Electric Power ended up tripling the amount of wind power it had originally sought after seeing how low the bids came in last year.

“Wind was on sale — it was a Blue Light Special,” said Jay Godfrey, managing director of renewable energy for the company. He noted that Oklahoma, unlike many states, did not require utilities to buy power from renewable sources.

“We were doing it because it made sense for our ratepayers,” he said.

According to a study by the investment banking firm Lazard, the cost of utility-scale solar energy is as low as 5.6 cents a kilowatt-hour, and wind is as low as 1.4 cents. In comparison, natural gas comes at 6.1 cents a kilowatt-hour on the low end and coal at 6.6 cents. Without subsidies, the firm’s analysis shows, solar costs about 7.2 cents a kilowatt-hour at the low end, with wind at 3.7 cents.

And the 1.2 Gw solar bid was under 4 cents a kilowatt, even with the subsidy, that comes in under the 6.6 cents for dirty coal. Both solar and wind are now cheaper than dirty coal, and even cheaper than natural gas. Now that we have two mega-factories producing grid scale batteries, it is only a matter of time until coal is completely replaced by renewables.