Nuclear dream is fading as wind and solar soar

[marmar]

(Climate News Network) LONDON, 30 December, 2014 ? With nuclear power falling ever further behind renewables as a global energy source, and as the price of oil and gas falls, the future of the industry in 2015 and beyond looks bleak.

Renewables now supply 22% of global electricity and nuclear only 11% ? a share that is gradually falling as old plants close and fewer new ones are commissioned.

New large-scale installations of wind and solar power arrays continue to surge across the world. Countries without full grids and power outages, such as India, increasingly find that wind and solar are quick and easy ways to bring electricity to people who have previously had no supply.

Developed countries, meanwhile, faced with reducing carbon dioxide emissions, find that the cost of both these renewable technologies is coming down substantially. Subsidies for wind and solar are being reduced and, in some cases, will disappear altogether in the next 10 years. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/nuclear-dream-fading-wind-solar-soar/

[NuclearDem]

1. Meanwhile, in Vermont...

https://www.wbur.org/2014/12/29/vermont-yankee-power-plant

VERNON, Vt. — The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant stopped sending power to the New England electric grid at just after noon Monday following more than 42 years of producing electricity from the southeastern Vermont town of Vernon.

...

Bill Mohl, the president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, said economic factors, especially related to the natural gas market in the Northeast, were the primary reason for the shutdown.

“The Northeast has undergone a shift in supply because of shale gas, resulting in sustained low natural gas prices and low wholesale energy prices,” Mohl said in a statement.

[Zorra]

2. This is wonderful news! You just put a big smile on my face.

Thank you!

[FBaggins]

3. Looks more like it's the folks at "climatenewsnetwork" that are dreaming.

China alone looks to start 20 new reactors in just the next two and a half years.

Renewables now supply 22% of global electricity and nuclear only 11%

It's incredibly deceptive to have a title touting the gains of "wind and solar" and then use total renewables as the comparison... since the vast majority of that 22% represents the hydro power that has been there for decades.