Robin van Spaandonk wrote:
Not quite true. Wind is still slightly more expensive than coal or gas, Solar thermal more expensive than wind.
Only when you ignore the social cost of pollution and mining. If U.S. electric power companies were forced to pay the normal compensation that any other company would pay for killing 20,000 people per year and destroying property, the cost of coal would be far higher than wind or solar thermal. Also, LUZ was forced to build solar thermal plants on a small scale, reducing efficiency and driving up cost. Regulators teamed up with fossil fuel companies to force LUZ into a corner and put them out of business. If regulators had allowed 100+ MW scale plants instead of holding them back at ~10 MW per project, LUZ would still be in business and they would be producing the cheapest electricity on earth in Southern California.
Photovoltaic considerably more expensive.
At least an order of magnitude more expensive, and the cost of other methods is dropping faster than PV.
We have both. Believe you me, if Solar were cheaper than coal or gas, there would no holding the utilities back. :)
I disagree. History shows that the utility companies were happy to join regulators and coal companies to drive LUZ out of business. If the cost of electricity falls to a penny or less per KWH, the utility companies will make a lot less money. Efficiency and progress is not their best interest. If cold fusion emerges, you can darn sure they will fight it tooth and nail, until the day it bankrupts them.
- Jed
