Comparative Costs of Electricity Generation



The graph above shows comparative costs of electricity generation for various types of plants.  The calculations of "Generation" and "Backup" costs were made by PB Power (Parsons Brinckerhoff), an international engineering consulting firm, for the Royal Academy of Engineering and updated in March 2006.  See the PB Study and Update.   "PTC" is the federal production tax credit of $.019/kWh.  We have added a conservative $.02/kWh for sale of Renewable Energy Certificates and benefits from the 5-year DDB write-off.  Wind energy is the most expensive, even without considering the cost of required backup and subsidies.  When they are included, wind is four times the cost of our most efficient coal, gas, and nuclear technologies.
Source: NorTexWind.org