{"id":8291,"date":"2018-10-26T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291"},"modified":"2018-10-26T11:04:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T10:04:00","slug":"one-thing-learnt-week-source-power-cheapest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291","title":{"rendered":"One thing we have learnt this week – which source of power is cheapest?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which source of power is cheapest?\u00a0 That question was raised this week when the green MP Caroline Lucas claimed onshore wind (which is effectively banned in England) was the cheapest source of electricity.\u00a0 This got the BBC’s fact check to examine the figures.<\/p>\n

It does in fact confirm she is right (just).\u00a0 Wind is cheaper than all the alternatives.\u00a0 This was in 2014 too so things should have improved.\u00a0 I decided to have a look and found data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy from 2016.\u00a0 This is\u00a0 shown below suggesting something slightly different.<\/p>\n

\"power<\/a>Firstly, the department gave a range of costs so I worked out the mean cost (shown as the blue column) and the standard error of the mean (SEM – shown as the bars).\u00a0 The SEM gives a range of the costs given.\u00a0 This data shows that wind is slightly more expensive than combined cycle gas turbines but cheaper than everything else.\u00a0 Please note nuclear costs are not shown currently but only going forward and so this data is for 2025.\u00a0 I assume new build, but the chances of this being at this cost or by this date are for the birds.\u00a0 Lots of different types of coal all with carbon capture and storage are listed.\u00a0 I took the cheapest, like nuclear there is very little chance of any of this being built and all the coal plants are shutting anyway.\u00a0 As I write this there is almost nothing coal powered on the grid and loads more wind than nuclear.\u00a0 Solar is large stuff in fields not that on your roof (the latter makes more sense to me but is not costed).\u00a0 Combined cycle gas plant varies from open cycle in that the heat from the exhaust gases are captured and used (there are other differences too).<\/p>\n

Which source of power is cheapest? It probably depends on when you ask the question.\u00a0 There is little difference between the gas and onshore wind costs and looking at the SEM bars the cheapest wind is still slightly cheaper than gas just not the mean.\u00a0 I suspect the change on 2014-6 was due to lower gas prices.\u00a0 Incidentally going forward both wind and solar are predicted to be cheaper than everything else, so its crazy not to invest in them.<\/p>\n

Neil<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which source of power is cheapest?\u00a0 That question was raised this week when the green MP Caroline Lucas claimed onshore wind (which is effectively banned in England) was the cheapest source of electricity.\u00a0 This got the BBC’s fact check to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,17,4],"tags":[275,74,49,61,177],"class_list":["post-8291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-costs","category-one-thing-we-have-learnt-this-week","category-renewables","tag-coal","tag-energy-costs-2","tag-nuclear-power","tag-renewable-energy","tag-solar"],"yoast_head":"\nOne thing we have learnt this week - which source of power is cheapest? - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291\",\"name\":\"One thing we have learnt this week - which source of power is cheapest? - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-26T10:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/b6f2831189b0d01294e9672bb540ba6f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"One thing we have learnt this week – which source of power is cheapest?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil\",\"description\":\"Blogging by Neil and Andy about Peak oil and faith.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/b6f2831189b0d01294e9672bb540ba6f\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2070f70411f2eab27f08cd0b2332e27e3987c781423ecba6c16b575181ce2a6a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2070f70411f2eab27f08cd0b2332e27e3987c781423ecba6c16b575181ce2a6a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One thing we have learnt this week - which source of power is cheapest? - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291","url":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291","name":"One thing we have learnt this week - which source of power is cheapest? - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-26T10:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/b6f2831189b0d01294e9672bb540ba6f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/power-production-costs-different-sources-300x205.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=8291#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"One thing we have learnt this week – which source of power is cheapest?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/","name":"The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil","description":"Blogging by Neil and Andy about Peak oil and faith.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/b6f2831189b0d01294e9672bb540ba6f","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2070f70411f2eab27f08cd0b2332e27e3987c781423ecba6c16b575181ce2a6a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2070f70411f2eab27f08cd0b2332e27e3987c781423ecba6c16b575181ce2a6a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8297,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8291\/revisions\/8297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}