Green Energy Infrastructure Investment Bill of 2008

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'm a bit hesitant about swapping in nuclear power, if only because this bill was designed to cater to renewable energy sources.  I do not believe that nuclear is a good long-term investment.  (Though I will still sign the bill if the amendment passes.)

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

3.   Estimate of Impact. It is estimated that the cost of generating capacity is approximately $56 per MWh for wind, $60 per MWh for geothermal, and $110 per MWh for large-scale solar facilities. As provided for in Section 1, this bill will directly lead to the generation of 3.01 × 108 MWh of electricity, or approximately 1.03% of the current Atlasian demand of 2.93 × 1010 MWh.

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The numbers for section 3 need to be updated though, that is the only thing that I can see necessitating change.

Here are the updated numbers per the amendment:

3.   Estimate of Impact. It is estimated that the cost of generating capacity is approximately $56 per MWh for wind, $60 per MWh for geothermal, and $110 per MWh for large-scale solar facilities. As provided for in Section 1, this bill will directly lead to the generation of 2.12 × 10⁸ MWh of electricity, or approximately 0.72% of the current Atlasian demand of 2.93 × 10¹⁰ MWh.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

3.   Estimate of Impact. It is estimated that the cost of generating capacity is approximately $56 per MWh for wind, $60 per MWh for geothermal, and $110 per MWh for large-scale solar facilities. As provided for in Section 1, this bill will directly lead to the generation of 3.01 × 108 MWh of electricity, or approximately 1.03% of the current Atlasian demand of 2.93 × 1010 MWh.

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The numbers for section 3 need to be updated though, that is the only thing that I can see necessitating change.

Here are the updated numbers per the amendment:

3.   Estimate of Impact. It is estimated that the cost of generating capacity is approximately $56 per MWh for wind, $60 per MWh for geothermal, and $110 per MWh for large-scale solar facilities. As provided for in Section 1, this bill will directly lead to the generation of 2.12 × 10⁸ MWh of electricity, or approximately 0.72% of the current Atlasian demand of 2.93 × 10¹⁰ MWh.

What is the source of all of those numbers?

I don't know, perhaps you should ask Conor as he is the original sponsor of the bill.

I'm actually the author; Conor just introduced it for me.

I'll try to find the source of the data, but it was found by just doing a Google search for the per megawatt cost of various energy sources.

Which brings us around to the reason for this bill: While I agree that the free market typically does a good job with this stuff, one of the major obstacles to wider scale wind and solar use is economies of scale.

Only with significant-sized investments such as the ones made in the bill can we bring down the cost of electricity per megawatt down to the levels specified in the bill.  In other words, we risk having a sub-optimal return on an investment, but the trade off is making renewable energy less expensive on the whole.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Cost of Solar Energy:

Shrinking the cost for solar power, 11 May 2007

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$0.11/kWh × 1000kWh/MWh = $110/MWh.


Cost of Wind Energy:

Wind Power (wikipedia)

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Cost of Geothermal Energy:

Geothermal Energy Association

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$0.055–$0.075/kWh × 1000kWh/MWh = $55–$75/MWh

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Bumping for Lewis—an amendment to the bill was proposed here weeks ago but not yet voted on.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I would appreciate it if a senator would kindly take up sponsorship of this bill now that Conor is no longer serving in the Senate.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

aye


Thanks Torie for the abstention. I think I'll intoduce a nuclear power bill if there isn't already one in the works, I support the idea I just feel like this isn't the right bill for it.

And I will reiterate that I am not opposed to nuclear power, and could see myself supporting a bill that addresses my concerns.  I would just like the two bills to remain separate.

(Mainly, a bill will need to approve the use of Yucca Mountain (or equivalent) for storage and allow speedy permitting for bringing dormant plants online.  The free market is able and encouraged to build new plants, but I don't necessarily want to go to the wall and subsidize them.)

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

And thus, part of the legacy has been achieved.

I anxiously twiddle my signature pen for this one.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Sitze!



William F. Moderate
President