Full Title: THE TRUE COST OF ENERGY: WIND
Author(s): Randy T Simmons
Publisher(s): Strata Policy
Publication Date: July 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This report explores the true cost of producing electricity from wind power. Rather than creating a new cost estimate, we analyze the findings of prominent cost studies by experts in the energy field. Each study includes different factors in its estimate of the cost of wind power. We break down each of these factors and explain the significance of each. These factors include: capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, capacity factor, transmission costs, baseload cycling, social and environmental costs, and the cost of government subsidies. Other factors are more difficult to quantify, but nevertheless add to the true cost of wind power. Such factors include: opportunity cost of taxpayer dollars, reduced reliability of the grid, and higher electricity prices. We conclude that, when estimating the true cost of wind power, all of these factors should be included.
What is meant by the term “true cost”? When calculating the cost of any energy source, there are many factors to consider. For example, it goes without saying that the costs of construction, operation, and maintenance of the power plant must be considered. The cost of transmitting the power to the consumer must also be factored in. However, not all costs are so easy to identify. The true cost of an energy source also includes hidden costs such as opportunity cost and other, less-obvious factors.
Proponents of wind energy claim that it is superior to traditional forms of power generation such as coal and natural gas. They claim that wind energy is cheaper to produce and it is renewable. Sometimes, when cursory and incomplete cost accounting is used to calculate wind energy’s costs, these claims appear to be correct and wind energy appears to be not only advantageous to consumers, but also friendly to the environment.