Onshore Wind costs less than coal, why is there not a huge move to use it?

[Logical]

Maybe I assume adding the storage of power for non-windy days drives the cost up?

Maybe the power companies are fighting it?

The graph below is from Wiki.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source

[JonathanRackham]

1. The not in my backyard locals.

I hike around wind turbines all the time. Noise and visual are not a problem. Local full time residents always seem to have an artificial problem. I'd live next to a turbine long before I'd live next to a highway any day.

[Logical]

7. Thanks for the info! nt

[Nay]

2. Part of it may be that many areas suited for windmill generators are also

avian flyways/migration routes, and there is some evidence that they kill migrating birds or divert them from their migration path.

[pipoman]

11. Let's see...

Coal belching vs. a bird inconvenience.....hmmm

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Around here, I don't have all the details, but...

we've got a fair amount of offshore wind, but it's variable. Possibly too variable for efficiency compared to the other grid sources.

But, the biggest problem I've seen so far has been NIMBY-- like Trump and his Scottish golf course, people around here spent a lot of money for ocean or sound views and they don't want them spoiled by nasty windmills. Onshore wind power hasn't done much better-- we have a few windmills on farms, but every time the subject comes up a different crop of NIMBY's shows up afraid the windmills will take off and crush their houses. They're ugly, too. And make whooshing noises that cause headaches, or something like that.

Town meetings about windmills are almost as much fun as the ones about deer.

It ain't easy.

[Logical]

8. Thanks! nt

[meaculpa2011]

4. Ask the residents of Martha's Vineyard. n/t

[PersonNumber503602]

5. What will happen when they suck up all the air and clouds?

Then what will humans breathe?


I feel woefully under informed about technical details of green power tech. I think you're onto something about the costs of storing energy for use during low wind times. There was/is at least one company who had some flywheel plants, but I think they went bankrupt. :/

I'm interested to see if any informed people with specific knowledge about the industry will comment on the costs. Maybe we'll learn some things.



*edit* Found the specific company I was referring to. Looks like they made it out of their troubles. http://beaconpower.com/

[NightWatcher]

6. Ask the people who sell the coal (and coal fired plants)

The power companies don't want cheap power because there's less money for them to make.

So they'll pay off local officials to make things tough for the wind power industry.

[Gregorian]

9. A whole society is in synch. It takes flexibility to change.

From the little machine shops that service the industry, to the huge corporations, they are constructed around drilling.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it's technology that trickles down, not money.

I see two paths: one is changing existing companies; the other is new companies.

I don't see Exxon gearing up for solar or wind. They will buy companies that do that.

It's like metric. I'm designing a machine, and it's all in metric. Once you see the benefits of something, only then can we make good decisions as to pursue an avenue, or not.

Another reason is subsidization of existing companies. Obama has done well from what I've seen, and there are little companies coming up with new technologies.

I was asking this question in the early 70's when all we saw were very poor solar installations. I thought after that first earth day that we meant business. No. And here we are all of these year later. Cars got bigger. Houses got bigger. Population of planet earth got bigger.

We're also based on this unsustainable notion of growth. Earth seemed so infinite only 200 years ago!

[alarimer]

10. Solar/wind are not without environmental consequences themselves.

They take up a ton of land so they have to be situated carefully to cause the least cost to habitats and impacts to wildlife. Wind turbines are known to kill bird as well as bats. No one is certain of the cost to these populations, but it must be considered. Everyone thinks these are a feel-good, win-win, but that's not necessarily so.

[Edim]

12. Here's a good article and discussion about onshore wind costs:

http://scienceofdoom.com/2015/09/07/renewables-ix-onshore-wind-costs/

Here are some LCOE numbers:

[Logical]

13. Thank you!

[hobbit709]

14. The big boys haven't figured out how to charge you for wind and sunlight.

[daleo]

15. Fossil fuel companies have a lot of money

Like the tobacco companies, they can spend a lot of money to protect the status quo. Plus, a lot of average people reflexively support status quo big companies, thinking that will protect their jobs, even when they don't work in the energy industry. It is a form of magical thinking that some are prone to - support the powerful interests, and somehow they will reward you, even though are a powerless pawn yourself.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Oregon has 3,100 megawatts of wind farm providing about 12.5% of our electricity

coal does about 5%.

[Logical]

17. Nice! We need more of that. nt