Can wind power replace coal in the US for generating electricity? The answer is YES, and it can be done more cost-effectively than using nuclear.
The US generates about half of its electricity using coal-fired power plants. Combustion of coal accounts for 37% of US greenhouse gas emissions overall, and 81% of emissions in the electricity sector. These coal plants will have to be shut down or replaced with other non-emitting electric power generation technologies. Efficiency improvements can take us a long way toward reducing the need for these coal plants. However, the power produced by these plants provides so-called "baseload" power, which will need to be generated by other sources.
Here is what the project to replace all existing coal plants with wind power would look like (to three significant figures):
Total electric power generated by coal plants in the US in 2004: 1,979 billion kilowatt hours
Number of 5 MW wind turbines required to generate this much electricity: 120,000
Estimated cost to build one 5 MW onshore wind turbine: $5,120,000
Total installed cost of all wind turbines:
$610 Billion
Amount of time required to build one REPower 5M onshore turbine: 8 mos
Number of these wind turbines that must be built per year to build all of them in 5 years: 24,000 (about 2000/month)
Number of people required to complete 24,000 wind turbine installations per year: 142,000 (crew of 12 builds 2 per year,estimated)
Sources: EIA, "Projected Cost of Generating Electricity" (OECD, IEA, NEA)
