Renewable more Cost Effective than Nuclear

As per a study by Agora Energiewende that compared prices of renewable power with nuclear in Europe, it was found that renewable have an edge.

“New wind and solar power systems can generate electricity up to 50% cheaper than new nuclear power plants,” said Patrick Graichen, executive director of Agora Energiewende.

The study examined feed-in tariffs for new nuclear power plants in the UK as well as feed-in tariffs for green power provided under Germany’s Renewable Energy Act.

The study considered both nuclear power as well as Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) and found that both these options are more costly than wind and solar power. This could be crucial as wind and solar energy are looked upon to spear head the movement against climate change and having cleaner sources of energy for fuelling energy needs of future.

The study also estimated total “costs of a power production system that uses reserve-capacity power plants fired by natural gas to make up for weather-dependent shortfalls in power generation from wind and solar.”

Findings were surprising because it establishes that a power system based on wind, solar, and natural gas was 20% more cheap than a nuclear one.

“The winner in battle over the cheapest means of CO2-free power generation has been decided,” said Graichen. “In the future wind and solar will play an ever greater role in countries across the world as a source of power. Together with other countries and regions taking the lead on preventing climate change, Germany has an opportunity to showcase how stable and cheap power production can be based on wind and solar.”

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