Florida Power & Light (FPL) has a fight on its hands. The largest electric generating utility in one of the country’s most populous and fastest growing states is fighting for Florida’s alternative energy future.
FPL wants to place six wind turbines on land it already owns at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant and nearby state owned land on Hutchinson Island. The wind turbine project is a key element in providing alternative power generation in Florida, where rising fossil fuel costs and hot weather are combining to push utility bills much higher.
FPL is the nation’s leader in wind energy generation. It operates 55 wind farms in 16 states, generating more than 5,000 net megawatts of electricity.
The firm has proposed a $60.8 million investment in the St. Lucie Wind project, not far from where I live. FPL wants to build nine wind turbines capable of generating enough juice to power nearly 3,000 homes in the area.
Public hearings haven’t even begun on the project and already local politicians and activists are lining up to oppose it… not in my backyard!
Wind Power is Here to Stay
The true irony is that the most of the land FPL intends to use for this wind power project is property it already owns… at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant here. Let’s see, if I had my choice between nuclear and wind, I know which I’d pick.
The reality is that wind power is here to stay, not just in Florida, but throughout the U.S. That’s because it’s a reliable, low cost alternative energy source. New U.S. wind power installations totaled more than 16,800 megawatts in 2007, up 45% last year!
That’s enough power to light-up about 4.5 million average homes. Wind energy is generated in 30 different states. Leading locations include Texas, California, Minnesota, Iowa and Washington.
Florida too, with its warm steady onshore breezes could be an ideal location… if locals can get over the NIMBY syndrome.
U.S. Becoming Largest Wind Market
The U.S. as a whole is moving toward wind power in a big way. In fact, we are set to overtake Germany as the world’s biggest wind market in 2009, as an investment boom in alternative energy spending transforms the industry.
While Europe had been the “hot spot” for alternative energy initiatives, especially wind power, that mantle is now shifting to the U.S.
In fact, European energy giant Royal Dutch Shell just sold its stake in a local offshore wind farm, “saying that Europe had been ‘built out’ and wind’s future was in North America”, according to an article in the Financial Times (FT).
Wind power produces only a bit more than 1% of total U.S. electricity now, but according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), this could rise to 20% within the next two-decades. The DOE estimate takes into account electricity demand growth of nearly 40% over this period too.
Cost Effective Energy is a Breeze
The cost of wind power has already come down with today’s high-tech wind turbines. “Unsubsidised wind energy costs 8-10 cents a kilowatt hour,” according to the FT article, “while coal, gas and nuclear are in the 5 cents to 10 cents range.
The beauty of wind power is its ultra-low operating cost. The wind is free (at least for now), and maintenance costs on most wind farms is minimal.
That gives wind a big competitive advantage over coal, natural gas, and even nuclear power plants – where fuel must be continuously replenished to generate power. As we’re all painfully aware, the cost of these fuels has been escalating rapidly, even while the cost of wind and solar power technologies has been falling.
It’s clear that the soaring demand for energy, not just in the U.S. but around the world, can’t be met by dwindling fossil fuels alone – something’s got to give – ushering in age of alternative energy… even in sleepy, Florida coastal towns like Hutchinson Island.
Comments