The U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on August 23 unveiled a study showing that wind and solar power could be costcompetitive with conventional power generation in western U.S. states by 2025 – without any federal subsidies. The report compares the cost of renewable electricity generation (without federal subsidy) from the U.S. West’s most productive renewable energy resource areas including any needed transmission and integration costs – with the cost of energy from a new natural gas-fired generator built near the customers it serves. “If renewables and natural gas cost about the same per kilowatt-hour delivered, then value to customers becomes matter of finding the right mix,” said NREL Senior Analyst David Hurlbut, the report’s lead author. “What this study does is look at where the most costeffective yet untapped resources are likely to be when the last of these mandates culminates in 2025, and what it might cost to connect them to the best-matched population centers.”
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