Reality Of Renewables -- December 12, 2017

Chart of the day:

It may be hard to read, but of the 97.5 quads of energy consumption in the graph above:

• solar: 0.532 (and the heyday of solar may be over)
• wind:1.82 (wind is still exciting, but best public are starting to say "NIMBY"; off-shore inconsequential)
• nuclear: 8.34 (this is the big story. Nuclear plants are being shut down; it's hard to think that wind could even begin to make up what is going to be lost as the nuclear power plants are decommissioned)
• hydro: 2.39 (static)
• biomass: 4.72 (static)

One individual at this article noted:

Over the last four years solar and wind have increased energy production in the US by 0.8 quads. Natural gas over the same time has increased by 2.3 quads - almost 3 times as much.

And that gap in production between wind/solar and natural gas will continue to increase. Every time I see a utility announce that the company is adding more wind/solar, there is also an accompanying announcement that more natural gas will be also added -- and many times more than wind/solar. The wind/solar is added for two reasons:

• public relations; help get the project through the regulation/approval process
• for the tax credits