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Renewable Energy Reduces the Highest Electric Rates In the Nation (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Coal is the primary fuel source for Midwest electric utilities. Michigan Technological University researchers found that increasing renewable and distributed generation energy sources can save Michigan electric consumers money. As renewable energy technologies and access to distributed generation like residential solar panels improve, consumer costs for electricity decrease. Making electricity for yourself with solar has become more affordable than traditional electricity fuel sources like coal. However, as three Michigan Tech researchers contend in a new study, while utility fuel mixes are slowly shifting away from fossil fuels toward renewable sources, Michigan utilities, and U.S. utilities broadly, continue a relationship with fossil fuels that is detrimental to their customers.
In the paper, Prehoda and co-authors Joshua M. Pearce, Richard Witte Endowed Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Chelsea Schelly, associate professor of sociology, note that in the U.S., "70 percent of coal plants run at a higher cost than new renewable energy and by 2030 all of them will." The researchers provide a breakdown of savings per kilowatt hour by county that Michigan residents could achieve if they produce their own electricity with solar photovoltaic panels. The most significant impacts of distributed generation with solar are in the Upper Peninsula, where residential customers could see savings of approximately 7 cents per kilowatt hour. Assuming the average residential consumer uses 600 kilowatt hours of electricity monthly, this is a savings of $42 per utility bill. Downstate, the average savings per utility bill under the researchers' model is approximately $30 monthly. However, not all Michigan consumers can take advantage of the opportunity to self-generate, as some utilities are blocking additional net-metered distributed generation in their areas. The study has been published in the journal Energies.
In the paper, Prehoda and co-authors Joshua M. Pearce, Richard Witte Endowed Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Chelsea Schelly, associate professor of sociology, note that in the U.S., "70 percent of coal plants run at a higher cost than new renewable energy and by 2030 all of them will." The researchers provide a breakdown of savings per kilowatt hour by county that Michigan residents could achieve if they produce their own electricity with solar photovoltaic panels. The most significant impacts of distributed generation with solar are in the Upper Peninsula, where residential customers could see savings of approximately 7 cents per kilowatt hour. Assuming the average residential consumer uses 600 kilowatt hours of electricity monthly, this is a savings of $42 per utility bill. Downstate, the average savings per utility bill under the researchers' model is approximately $30 monthly. However, not all Michigan consumers can take advantage of the opportunity to self-generate, as some utilities are blocking additional net-metered distributed generation in their areas. The study has been published in the journal Energies.
Power use has changed, demand no longer drives supply due to regulatory changes in the US power market companies can buy and sell demand which causes the demand curve to follow the supply curve rather than the traditional opposite.
On top of that wind is typically complementary to solar in that they tend to operate when the other isn't. And storage is getting so cheap at this point that it's nearing the price where it's competitive with the spot power market prices.
The 21st century power market is nothing like the one that existed in the 20th. People need to get over this and realize the market has changed. The assumption of the prior era no longer apply.
There are very few states in the US that allow power companies to offload maintenance costs for the power plant into flat rate charges on the customer bill. Instead what will happen is that the per kwh cost of that coal power will rise and as it rises it will become even less competitive.
Individually owned solar, ie rooftop solar, is already generally charged a monthly fee to cover the grid maintenance costs they are no longer contributing to as part of their power purchases but none of that money is ever intended to cover maintenance on a power plant, the very idea is counter to whole idea of how the power markets work in the US. Everyone pays for the grid, and you only pay for the power you use. Traditionally in the past both costs were rolled into one regulated power price but in the future the only way it will be fair is for these costs to be itemized out and billed separately.