Fred W

6 Ways to Play Clean Energy

I think the author needs to update his knowledge on the actual cost of producing, transmitting and distributing "centralized" generation. Transmission and its maintenance is no small line item in a 20-30 year project pro forma--unlike the case for distributed solar PV. Germany has proven that solar can supply 10-15% of a country's electricity demand w/o high insolation factors and do it quickly...at least when compared to nuclear, and in many cases coal plants as well (waiting for permitting approval).
I build these models for a living and the most important parts (of any well reasoned model) are the variable data inputs that drive the model. Very few people know the appropriate inputs, and most of the ones that do, already work for companies such that the information never goes beyond the best interests of the "employer".
Misinformation is the game for many in the solar industry...and the Web is very little help unless you know exactly where to look.

Obama Touts Solar, Geothermal

The "price" or cost of producing solar kWhs varies greatly across regions of the U.S.
In appropriate areas for GT and solar PV, actual production costs are more in line with $0.06-0.08/kWh for GT and $0.09-0.14/kWh for PV--assuming or utility scale projects (greater than 2MW).
The assumptions of facility life and O&M are fairly straightforward for PV but can vary greatly depending on the particular site conditions and design choices for GT.


On Jun 02 07:06 PM epeon wrote:

> Here is my problem with solar and geothermal, when all is said and
> done what is the cost on a kwhr basis? Everything I read said that
> solar is on the order of $.35/kwhr and geothermal is around $.25/kwhr.
> If true, this is far greater then the $.03 to $.05/kwhr that you
> can do coal with. So, does this mean that solar will always be dependent
> upon government largesse?

Another Look at Geothermal Energy

It is very unlikely that Solar PV will cost $0.229/kWh in 2030--LCE of $0.06-0.12/kWh is much more likely.
If PV were to cost $0.23/kWh in 2030, it would be a result of much higher labor and raw material costs than could be assumed given the projections for CSP, wind and GT...all of which are material and (initially) labor intensive.

"Geothermal energy is expected to cost about 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour by 2030 compared to 8.1 cents per kilowatt for wind, 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour for concentrating solar thermal and about 22.9 cents per kilowatt hour for solar photovoltaic, according to the Energy Department."