Cost of Nuclear Energy Comparative to Wind Energy

It has been projected by the national government and several renewable/green energy companies that by 2030 wind energy's levelized costs will be less than coal, nuclear, or natural gas. Levelized costs are a method of determining the cost per MWh of an energy source, and it tends to work well when comparing similar energy production mechanisms. There are, however, certain problems that have been glossed over.

The main problem with this determined method of energy production cost analysis is that it doesn't take into account the time period of the day when the energy is produced. A major point is that there is no effective way to store energy for a period of time. This means, that the electricity has to be produced as it is needed. Other energy sources (e.g. fossil fuel and nuclear power plants) simply have their current electrical output increased to meet hourly demands through various mechanisms. Solar and Wind energies do not have this option. Wind energy often produces its electricity during off-peak times of the day. In other words, when the energy is lower demand and therefore worth significantly less. This means that it has to produce even more for the electricity to make a profit. Solar energy is slightly better because it works with the sun and tends to produce more energy during larger demand periods, but it can still be affected by cloudy weather and similar problems making it harder for it to produce electricity when the electricity is worth the most.

In other words, levelized costs do not accurately measure the ability of wind or solar energies comparative to nuclear or fossil fuels. Wind is generally over-valued while solar is generally under-valued, but neither one can really be compared. It's apples and oranges; it doesn't work.

This was basically a summary of an article by Paul L. Joskow titled Comparing The Costs Of Intermittent And Dispatchable Electricity Generating Technologies, however, I don't know how many people have access to this article as I only found it using UVU's online library service. It explains this far better than I do, but like I said, you may not be able to access it.

Thank you for reading.
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Sources:

Joskow, Paul L. "Comparing The Costs Of Intermittent And Dispatchable Electricity Generating Technologies." American Economic Review101.3 (2011): 238-241. Business Source Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
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