STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF WIND ENERGY COMPARED WITH COALAND NATURAL GAS

摘要

With increasing concerns about energy security and global climate change, it is important for decision-makers to understand differences between energy generation technologies. This paperrnassesses the direct economic effects Colorado would experience from equivalent new capacity,rncomparing wind, natural gas and coal. To account for differing capacity factors, electricityrnresources are compared on a per-MWh, basis. The economic impacts include materials andrnlabor for construction, operations, maintenance, fuel extraction, and fuel transport, as well asrnproperty tax and landowner revenues. We examine spending on plant construction duringrnconstruction years, as well all other operational expenditures over a 20-year span. Initial resultsrnindicate that, in some cases, adding new wind power is more economically effective for ruralrnareas than adding new gas or coal power. For this report, researchers used existing models andrnstudies, augmented by new industry representatives and energy experts. The methodology for thisrnresearch offers important details for determining economic effects of power generation in other regions.