LETTER: Expensive energy
In the Aug. 30 article “State tops in electricity price decline,” the NV Energy spokeswoman claims that part of the reduction in prices was due to “more clean energy” and “low-cost renewable resources.”
NV Energy is shamelessly promoting renewable energy without regard to the facts. The real reason electricity prices have dropped, as the article mentioned, is that natural gas prices have dropped dramatically over the last 10 years. Renewable energy, wind, solar and geothermal is extremely expensive and in the case of wind and solar delivered erratically. In 2018, the average cost to NV Energy per megawatt hour was $101.65 for wind, $79.26 for geothermal and $92.51 for solar.
By running existing natural gas stations more, that same electricity could have been generated for the cost of the gas, which was $25 per megawatt hour. It is remarkable that renewable energy costs three or four times more than natural gas, even though renewable energy is massively subsidized by the federal and state governments. Neither is renewable energy an effective method of reducing CO2 emissions.
Nevada law requires a great expansion of renewable energy over the next 10 years. Exactly what this will accomplish — other than rising electric rates and declining reliability — is a mystery.
