can someone tell me where i can find the cost of solar powered energy compared to coal-fired energy?
Question by Pieter: can someone tell me where i can find the cost of solar powered energy compared to coal-fired energy?
im busy finishing a school project that is due on friday nd ive look jst about everywhere so i seriously need some help. I need to conduct a comparison between the cost of solar power and the cost of coal-fired power.
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
3 Responses to can someone tell me where i can find the cost of solar powered energy compared to coal-fired energy?
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I found a few sites that go into the costs. They appear to be reliable.
Understanding the Cost of Solar Energy (2007) http://greenecon.net/understanding-the-cost-of-solar-energy/energy_economics.html
Cost comparisons of Energy supply technologies (2009)
http://www.unenergy.org/Popup%20pages/Comparecosts.html
Solar is the Solution (2007/2008) http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/2007-12-01/Solar-is-the-Solution.aspx
Check with your school or local librarians about access to databases that may be able to help you find articles.
Library Lady
November 24, 2012 at 8:50 am
I can’t answer about solar-powered energy, but I can compare the cost of coal with other fossil fuels. I hope that will help in some way!
Coal generates electricity at almost one-fifth to one-eighth the cost of other fossil fuels.
Here is data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels, based on the year-to-date average cost in dollars per million Btu for October 2008 (the latest available data):
Coal — $ 2.04
Petroleum liquids — $ 16.67
Natural gas — $ 9.58
(Take a look for yourself: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm.pdf; Electric Power Monthly, January 2009; please see P. 7; Table ES2.B. Summary Statistics: Receipts and Cost of Fossil Fuels for the Electric Power Industry by Sector, Btus, 2008 and 2007)
Joe Lucas
November 24, 2012 at 9:15 am
The price of photovoltaic panels has plummeted in the last few years, from over $ 4 / watt in 2006, to under $ 3 today.
One unique thing about photovoltaic is that it can be directly installed on an individual residence, essentially offsetting the home’s electricity at the retail rate per kWh. So even if a coal-fired power plant produces electricity at 3 cents / kWh, but takes on maybe 12 cents in distribution costs, fees, and profit, so is 15 cents / kWh by the time a consumer buys it. Solar might cost 10 cents / kWh fully amortized, so would cost 22 cents / kWh by the time a consumer gets it, if it was generated at a central solar power plant. But if the consumer installs the PV right on the home’s roof, then it’s 10 cents / kWh, actually making financial sense. This needs to be in a sunny area, so you would only see this on homes in sunny areas of the country. It also explains why we see over 100,000 roofs with PV in California already, but no central electric utility with a PV-only plant.
Take web sources with a grain of salt if they’re hosted by a company selling a particular technology. For example, the Unenergy site, to no surprise, radically favors the Unenergy solution.
roderick_young
November 24, 2012 at 10:15 am