Power systems engineer here. The renewable energy source may be cheaper, but there's a hidden (for now) cost in the intermittent nature of them. Right now we still burn enough fossil fuels that we can dispatch them up and down to balance the system without huge quantities of energy storage, but those days are numbered if we're serious about de-carbonization. Between large scale and long-term energy storage and the transmission reinforcement that will be required to de-carbonize building heat especially in northern climates, there is some serious sticker shock brewing to get us to our 2050 goals.
AssortedInterests t1_je4gsd4 wrote
Reply to comment by Wwize in U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022 by altmorty
Power systems engineer here. The renewable energy source may be cheaper, but there's a hidden (for now) cost in the intermittent nature of them. Right now we still burn enough fossil fuels that we can dispatch them up and down to balance the system without huge quantities of energy storage, but those days are numbered if we're serious about de-carbonization. Between large scale and long-term energy storage and the transmission reinforcement that will be required to de-carbonize building heat especially in northern climates, there is some serious sticker shock brewing to get us to our 2050 goals.