Natural Gas vs Wind Energy

by Colin Houghton

I came across an interesting and uplifting article by Stephen Lacey in Climate progress magazine this week, comparing and contrasting the threat that natural gas might pose to the wind power business in the United States. Stephen is a reporter with ClimateProgress.org, a blog published by the Centre for American Progress and a former editor and producer for RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

naturalgas Natural Gas vs Wind Energy

He begins by acknowledging that since 2009 cheap natural gas prices have been a big threat to the deployment of renewable energy in the U.S. today. With a glut of gas dropping prices to historic lows, the competitiveness of technologies like wind, solar PV and solar hot water are facing significant challenges. However, he shows that these are only short-term threats. He argues that the wind power industry is challenged and maybe has received a few blows, but that it is definitely not out for the count. It is only because of the current difference between the costs of gas and wind energy is quite marked that the critics of wind energy have been particularly active. However, when the price of natural gas starts to climb back up (probably fairly soon), renewables will be more competitive than ever. He reminds us that up to 2008, wind energy was very competitive as compared to natural gas.

He argues that this challenge from (temporarily) cheap natural gas will ultimately serve to make the wind energy industry stronger, by forcing it to find ways of reducing costs, increasing efficiency and innovate.

He says that claims which claim that the U.S has gas reserves to last one century are wrong- these are based on speculation and do not take into account the viability of extracting gas in more difficult locations. A more realistic outlook would be 11-21 years. Enjoy it while you’ve got it, but you won’t have it for long seems to be the strapline!

He notes that towards the end of last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance projected that wind would be “fully competitive with energy produced from combined-cycle gas turbines by 2016″ under fair wind conditions. In 2011, for the first time ever, global investments in renewable energy surpassed investments in fossil fuels.

The price of renewable energy continues to come down while the projected price of natural gas is only expected to rise. That is good news for the wind energy industry in the medium to long term.

Even if natural gas is cleaner than coal, it is still a fossil fuel. It still contributes to global warming and that if we are serious about reducing the carbon footprint, gas is a relic of a past that we want to move on from.

So whatever unfavourable comparisons might be made between natural gas and wind energy this year, or maybe even next, they cannot be sustained in the longer term. Wind energy will win through!

Wind Farm 300x2071 Natural Gas vs Wind Energy