WYOMING WIND HELD BACK BY LACK OF LINES

Wind power, booming nationally, grinds to a halt in Wyoming

Benjamin Storrow, September 5, 2015 Casper Star Tribune

The installed price of new wind in the U.S. is now competitive with new coal and new natural gas installations, the wind industry has built about one-third of all new U.S. generation capacity since 2007, and the DOE forecasts it can be 20% of the U.S. power mix by 2020, but Wyoming has added no new capacity since 2010. Experts say Wyoming, one of the most wind-rich states, remains largely undeveloped because regulatory issues are unsettled and transmission projects that could deliver wind-generated electricity to power-hungry load centers continue to face permitting and financing obstacles. The unsubsidized levelized cost of wind energy (LCOE) is now estimated by Lazard at $37 per MWh to $81 per MWh, while coal’s LCOE comes in at $66 per MWh to $151 per MWh and the LCOE of natural gas is at $61 per MWh to $81 per MWh. click here for more

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