Renewable Electricity
As the energy is essentially free, renewable electricity costs, like those of nuclear electricity, are almost entirely dependent on the up-front construction costs and the method of financing these. Minimising the initial investment, relative to the expected energy yield, is critical to commercial viability. But revenue is also dependent on when, and where, the energy can be delivered to meet the demand patterns of energy consumers.
For example, if it requires four times the capital investment in equipment to extract one megawatt hour (1 MWh) of useable electricity from sunlight, as compared to extracting it from wind, engineers need to find ways of quartering the cost of solar capture and conversion equipment; or increasing the energy converted to electricity fourfold; to make solar directly competitive.
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