A recent scenario analysis made by Emerging Energy Research (EER) on behalf of Vestas Wind Systems A/S concludes that based on the economic and risk analysis of power generation, wind technology can no longer be marginalised in the power mix.
Thus, wind power should be supported in its penetration of the conventional power market to ensure a cleaner, more balanced energy supply in the future. The analysis presents the following results:
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In a carbon constrained world, wind power can be competitive with several conventional power technologies depending on the price of carbon. EER’s analysis considers the impact of the cost of carbon at 30 euros per metric tonnes.
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Much of the generation capacity we are currently using in Europe is more than 20 years old and has as such been 100 per cent depreciated. Therefore, this analysis is interesting in that it compares like with like, i.e. newly built wind power plants with newly built conventional power plants.
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All things considered, wind power is a superb supplement to the current power mix as it increases the supply of electricity, reduces the consumption of conventional fuels, has little or no carbon footprint and is an inexhaustible local resource.