Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle
Based on what I've read new wind is cheaper/kWh than new nuclear, although not by a lot, something around ~3c/kWh compared to ~4c/kWh. This is from the cost figures of Florida's two AP1000's, fuel cost percentage from the NEI, and inflation adjusted non-fuel operating costs from "An Analysis of Nuclear Power Plant
Operating Costs: A 1995 Update".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Duffman
From what I have seen 4 cents represents the low end of a very large range for the cost of wind power. I have not seen a study from a credible source showing wind to be cheaper than nuclear. One thing to note is these studies are hugely dependent on the interest rate that you borrow against to build your project. I would like to drill down on an actual economic analysis of wind cost but have not been able to find it.
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I did some looking into my own question and found this site.
NREL: Wind Research - Baseline Cost of Energy
Its obviously a pro-wind site but thats ok, but keep in mind they are not going to present costs any higher than the lowest they will be.
I sifted through their analysis and the first thing that I checked was the capacity factor (what I have been referring to a duty cycle in past posts). It takes a capacity factor of 42%. Wikipedia states that it should be 20 to 40%, other number I have seen are 30% so I wont accept a number higher than 40%.
Wind power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I also checked their spreadsheet provided and they take 60% of O&M but never explain why. I changed their spreadsheet to reflect 100% and duty cycles of 30% for the lower case and 40% for the higher case and the costs rise to 5.7 cents and 4.27 cents per kWh. So yes these costs are competitive but even using their duty cycle of 42% it should be obvious to everyone that 60% of the time they are producing no power or an inadequate supply. Now let me get something clear, I have never been against wind power, because when supply quantity is kept low, then you don’t need a backup but as your % of the grid grows then backup generation must be installed and idled when not in use greatly increasing your costs and frankly your carbon footprint as well because that infrastructure needs to be built as well. (Note the interest rate they used was 9.5%, fixed charge rate is not an interest rate)
Here is a site I like for nuclear costs.
The Economics of Nuclear Power
Again it will be pro-nuclear but it sites a lot of different studies and includes ranges.