Rollback of Clean Power Plan makes no sense economically

In the United States, developers of new wind farms signed contracts to sell power around $20 per megawatt-hour last year, down from about $61 per megawatt-hour in 2000, according to a new report by the Department of Energy. That report also points out that these prices are lower than those for electricity from natural gas plants.

The worldwide average cost of wind and solar power has fallen sharply over the past three years, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency. While these sources of energy make up a small portion of the overall system — for example, about 15 percent of electricity generated in the United States last year and 24 percent generated worldwide — they are growing fast: Two-thirds of generation capacity added globally last year came from renewable sources.

4. Wind and solar are becoming cheaper every year.

In some countries like India, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Chile, auction prices for renewable energy have fallen so much that they are “comparable or lower than generation cost of newly built gas and coal power plants,” according to the agency, which researches the energy sector for 29 member countries, including the United States. Based on current trends, the agency forecasts that the cost of land-based wind turbines and utility-size solar projects will fall an additional 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in the next five years.

In the United States, developers of new wind farms signed contracts to sell power around $20 per megawatt-hour last year, down from about $61 per megawatt-hour in 2010, according to a recent report by the Department of Energy.

That report also points out that these prices are lower than those for electricity from natural gas plants and are expected to stay that way for years to come. That’s because wind power contracts lock in low prices for 20 years or longer, whereas the cost of natural gas fluctuates from day to day. Developers of wind farms — and solar projects — do receive federal tax credits, but those subsidies are being phased out and will be eliminated in 2020.

5. Technical advances are making renewables more productive and reliable.

Wind turbines and solar panels cannot produce electricity at all times in all weather conditions. But there have been great technical strides that have improved their performance. For example, modern wind turbines are much more productive than the turbines installed just one decade ago.

What’s more, batteries have become much cheaper, making it less expensive to store electricity when it’s windy or sunny for times when it is not. The average cost of lithium-ion batteries fell 73 percent, to $273 per kilowatt-hour, between 2010 and 2016, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The world needs to shift to renewables because they represent our best hope of avoiding the most calamitous consequences of climate change.

Now, the economic case for these technologies is growing, too.