‘Clean’ energy like solar and wind makes good economic sense | Letter to the editor

A recent letter to the editor suggested that converting from a carbon/fossil fuel based energy system to a renewable energy supply in the next 20-30 years was highly improbable as the author believed that renewables were too expensive and too inefficient. Fortunately, for the future, both of those assertions are at best inaccurate and at worst just plain wrong.

There is no question that renewable/alternative energies like solar and wind are disruptive technologies. And yes, decades ago there were serious questions about their economic feasibility. The increased efficiency of solar and wind, but especially solar, has given renewable energies the economic advantage. Citi Group in June 2014 predicted that within 10 years that solar would be the cheapest way to generate electricity. Today, in many parts of the world solar is already the lowest cost way to generate electricity.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, every time wind power doubles, there is a 19% drop in cost and every time solar doubles, the cost drops 24%. A report by Agora Energiewende stated that solar would be the cheapest form of electricity everywhere by 2025 with cost of 4-6 cents per kilowatt-hour and a further reduction to 2-4 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2050. Fossil fuels, even with subsidies, cannot compete with those prices. Given the rate at which battery costs are dropping, solar energy and battery storage (without subsidies) are competitive with carbon based/fossil fuel energy (with subsidies).

Alternative energies like solar and wind also have the advantage that they are scalable technologies that can operate via a centralized power system or a distributed power system or as a stand-alone installation. In addition, they can be built and installed faster that and less expensively than any fossil fuel based or nuclear powered energy plant.

Tim Rummage, professor

Ringling College Department of Environmental Studies

Sarasota