Wind is certainly the best of the renewables; however it suffers from its lack of predictability. I live in TX where there is more wind systems than anywhere else making somewhere between 5-10% of the total power in the state. We've had a couple of incidents where a combination of light winds and lack of sufficient conventional power capacity led to a near shutdown of the state's power grid. This is leading some to think that in addition to the cost of the wind generators, some investment in backup systems is also needed thus driving up its cost. I've seen other comparisons showing wind as more expensive than gas/coal. I do have to question the accuracy of the cost comparisons. The wiki referenced shows wind power at $97/MW and coal at $95. The reason I question this is because the average wholesale price of power on the Texas grid for 2010 was about $40 / MW; I don't think the power companies are engaging in a money losing biz. http://www.ferc.gov/market-oversight/mkt-electric/texas/elec-tx-yr-pr.pdf Seneca
Yes, we've been using hydro for decades successfully. Wind is another story. You can't count on wind to be consistent and there is a lot of bird kill from wind turbines. just ask T. Boon Pickens how he lost billions promoting his wind farms. And solar is just not ready for prime time. How about that algae gasoline. I remember seeing an oil company commercial on TV recently where the researcher is bragging that they have been working on using algae for decades. Well, where is it? Not a viable solution I presume.
I dont know about you all. But my monthly fixed electric bill went up 10% this year, for the first time making more sense to finance a solar panel system. The monthly cost all in for a 5 year loan to power my house for the next 20 years is 200 bucks...monthly electric bill 223 bucks. Anybody think power costs are ever going to go down again? I dont happen to think so.