Source: The Eagle/Dallas Morning News
19 October 2022
Solar and wind energy saved Texans nearly $1 billion a month this year in electricity costs, according to a recent clean energy study from energy system analysis group IdeaSmiths LLC.
In the first eight months of 2022, renewables saved the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid, about $7.4 billion, the report shows, or about $925 million per month. Renewables are on track to save Texans $11 billion total this year.
“With a coal or natural gas power plant, you have to both build a power plant and continuously buy fuel to burn in that power plant, and so there’s higher ongoing costs,” said University of Texas Austin research scientist and IdeaSmiths executive Joshua Rhodes, who led the research. “Wind and solar generally produce very cheap electricity because they don’t have fuel costs … after you’ve built the plant there are no fuel costs associated with generating electricity.”
The report quantifies the economic benefit of renewables in terms of electricity cost, water usage and pollution. The report doesn’t address the impact of renewables on grid reliability.
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