Nuclear Industry Withers in U.S. as Wind Pummels Prices

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) A glut of government-subsidized wind power may help accomplish a goal some environmentalists have sought for decades: kill off U.S. nuclear power plants while reducing reliance on electricity from burning coal.

That’s the assessment of executives and utility experts after the U.S. wind-energy industry went on a $25 billion growth binge in 2012, racing to qualify for a federal tax credit that was set to expire at year’s end.

The surge added a record 13,124 megawatts of wind turbines to the nation’s power grid, up 28 percent from 2011. The new wind farms increased financial pressure on traditional generators such as Dominion Resources (D) Inc. and Exelon Corp. in their operating regions. That’s because wind energy undercut power prices already driven to 10-year-lows by an abundance of natural gas.

“Right now, natural gas and wind power are more economic than nuclear power in the Midwestern electricity market,” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based advocate of cleaner energy, said in a phone interview. “It’s a matter of economic competitiveness.” ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-11/nuclear-industry-withers-in-u-s-as-wind-pummels-prices-energy.html

[Demeter]

1. Sounds like a Winner all around

Even for the coal and nuclear profiteers....if they had to pay the total costs of their pollution, for example...

[shenmue]

2. Yay!

Huzzah!

[summerschild]

3. Works for me!

[namaste2]

4. But have they thought out how they are going to dispose of what's left after using the wind?

Oh, that's right, there isn't anything! No worries about leaking, toxic radioactive material making it's way to the Columbia River even as we speak. Green energy HAS to grow and expand quickly~ Every living thing depends on it. Instead of Gone with the Wind, it needs to be Grow with the Wind.

[Archaic]

5. That is tasty.

If coal were to be priced to include its externalities, it'd be in trouble.