Tell us about the unseen cost of wind and solar power, too
While we are on the topic of requesting public information for consumers of our monopoly electricity utility, could one of the sharp pencils at NV Energy or the Public Utility Commission estimate the ancillary costs of intermittent power?
Recently the Review-Journal asked for the contract price NV Energy proposes to pay several alternative energy producers for each kilowatt-hour of electricity it must buy to satisfy a legislative dictate that 25 percent of its power production must come from so-called “green” sources. On Tuesday the attorney general’s office filed paperwork arguing that the public’s right to and need for such information outweighs any vague argument about trade or proprietary secrets. The PUC is to decide soon whether you get to see what your future power bills will look like.
While geothermal and biomass can provide a fairly stable, round-the-clock source of power, wind turbines work only when the wind blows and solar photovoltaic panels only when the sun shines. When the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, the power company must crank up some other generator, usually a perfectly good coal- or natural gas-fired generator that was sitting idle while those carbon-free turbines were momentarily working.
What is the pass-along-to-consumers capital cost of maintaining generation capacity that is used only as needed? What is the cost in manpower and high-tech equipment to maintain a balanced power load on the grid? What are the capital and operating costs of all those additional power lines to bring green energy to the grid?
Just for the record: How much would have each of the kilowatt-hours from those proposed-but-moth-balled coal-fired plants near Ely have cost ratepayers?
Check out this graphic and read more about green economics:
