Orsted CEO says abandoning US wind projects a 'real option'
(www.offshore-mag.com)
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I agree with you about Levelized Cost but it is what is used to consider cost by economists (they like their formulas). So even using that formula shows the extra cost of wind and solar over time. Area is not considered in any calculation. We had this problem with solar in New Jersey. The solar warriors wanted to build solar farms but we have very limited open space in the state. We also have a very strong Preserve Farmland group that put up strong opposition. So then the state wanted to put them on brownfields (disserted manufacturing sites). Turns out that would be an environmental disaster. We have many superfund sites in this state. So that's when we came up with installing solar panels on telephone poles. We put up a lot but stopped for some reason.
There is another bad aspect to wind turbines on land - their noise.
Also what you say about area is harder to compare when considering offshore wind. .
I think the area question is "overlooked" on purpose by the proponents of renewable energy. The UK's largest power station would need a couple of hundred square miles of solar panels to replace it - probably even more if you take into account UK weather and latitude.
In the US, the Ivanpah solar plant hd to be scaled back because it was impinging too much on the habitat of the desert tortoise. The site covers approaching six square miles and it produces less energy than a single coal-fired generator - and even then it has to be warmed up each day with gas!
I did the calculation I suggested for the USA and an area of eight times that of Texas would need to be covered in wind farms to power the entire USA. OK, that will be a high estimate because efficiency of current methods was not taken into account but total energy, not just electricity, was considered.
I think that if people started from the land-use end rather than the "who likes pollution" end we might have some more realistic discussions.
Yes that is a great point. People get so emotional about renewable energy. They think of themselves as ecowarriors. It's been a great pysop.