Quote:
Originally Posted by Army_of_One  But look at the cost per megawatt of coal vs wind. Wind turbines are more expensive per megawatt, have a shorter lifespand and high maintenence costs. Aren't wind towers subsidized by the gov't? Wind energy is NOT free.
Here are some quotes...
In the MSNBC news story, it was clear that the authors are recommending massive government intervention in support of further wind energy development in the U.S.—building some 225,000 windmills at an initial taxpayer cost of $338 billion and an annual maintenance cost—at further taxpayer expense—of at least $4 billion per year.
With wind, the cost was estimated at $55.80 MegaWatts/hour. With coal, the cost was estimated at $53.10/MW/h. |
I didn't say wind energy was free. I said the FUEL was free.
I'd be interested to see how the costs you provided are calculated. Specifically the cost to build the infrastructure (capital) and operate and maintain (O&M) it. The cost of fuel is a no brainer.
I think the Grey County Windfarm (~100 MW) employs about 10 people whereas the Holcomb plant (~350 MW) has around 250, so it looks to me like the O&M is gonna be lower at Grey County by a large margin. Not sure of the cost of the build out of the wind farm, but I believe the 1400 MW's proposed at Holcomb are at a cost of 3.2 billion dollars. That comes out to roughtly $2.3 million/MW to build. My hunch says the wind farm doesn't cost that much $/MW to build out.