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>Well, they're cheaper than all other forms of electricity. The cost of renewables is mostly capital expenditure There is a cost to renewables that most advoca
by eldaisfish 5y ago
>Well, they're cheaper than all other forms of electricity. The cost of renewables is mostly capital expenditure
There is a cost to renewables that most advocates don't factor in - balancing. Most studies use the prevailing market rates for energy to prove that renewables are cheaper than coal or gas however, when renewables aren't providing power, something is and that something has a cost.
This is a cost paid for by consumers though it isn't attributed to the source of the problem - the variable renewable generators.
Similar argument for energy storage. You need storage precisely because renewables are variable and that cost should be factored in to the cost of renewable energy. At the moment, it isn't.
- pydry 5y ago>however, when renewables aren't providing power, something is and that something has a cost. Hence all that electricity imported from, e.g. France in winter. Some people might be under the illusion that this was free but I can assure you I am not. There's a reason Europe is super keen on country interconnectors. It really helps smooth out production. Intermittency of renewables really has become the next Y2k. I suppose we can thank a decade of carbon and nuclear lobby fearmongering for that :/ Like Y2K as a problem it receives relatively too much attention relative to the problems it causes. The rolling blackouts germany was promised ~10 years ago never materialized, for instance: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/may/23/germany-nuclear-shutdown-winter-blackouts https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/may/23/germany-...
- eldaisfish 5y agoThis has no connection to the point i was making. Perhaps you replied to the wrong comment?
- pydry 5y agoNo, I was responding to you.