http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0
In Texas, Austin Energy signed a deal this spring for 20 years of output from a solar farm at less than 5 cents a kilowatt-hour. In September, the Grand River Dam Authority in Oklahoma announced its approval of a new agreement to buy power from a new wind farm expected to be completed next year. Grand River estimated the deal would save its customers roughly $50 million from the project.
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.
Wind now costs less than cheap dirty coal, less even than natural gas. And solar is within half a cent per kilowatt of dirty coal. And these are unsubsidized prices. While solar and wind have been getting subsidized, coal also has been subsidized through depletion allowances. There is no depletion of sun or wind.
I really don't understand the rabid aversion the 'Conservatives' have toward solar and wind. It is almost as if they like the idea of polluting the atmosphere with lead, mercury, and uranium. To say nothing of the environmental effect of strip mining in Montana and Wyoming, and the removal of mountain tops in West Virginia and Kentucky. The poisoning of rivers with fly ash. Such a lovely picture the burning of coal presents.