Renewable power roaring ahead in some countries
Play
Electricity for Bt1.15/kWh. That's what solar-generated electricity is selling for in Texas, USA. That's well below the cost of electricity generated by fossil fuels, nuclear or hydro.
A kilowatt hour can run a medium air-conditioner for two hours. Check your monthly electric bill from your Thai supplier (Egat?) and see how the rate compares to Bt1.15/kWh. Chances are, it’s several times higher.
In related news, Denmark is producing 40 per cent of its electricity from renewables, and it will get to its goal of 50 per cent – years sooner than its goal of 2020.
Their wind turbines alone account for nearly 5 gigawatts. What percentage of Thai-generated electricity is from renewables?
Naysayers of alternative power generation will often say things like “solar only works when the sun is shining” or “wind power is only useful when the wind is blowing”, and they may add, “there are no good ways to store excess power production”.
Perhaps those archaic mind-sets are not familiar with ways to store power, which are better than batteries.
For example, Denmark sells its excess power generation to Germany and Sweden which, in turn, use some of that energy to pump water uphill to reservoirs, where it can be released as hydro (dams) when needed.
Ken Albertsen
Chiang Rai
