Costs of Nuclear v. Solar Power

Stagnaro, Carlo and Bakst, Daren (2010): Costs of Nuclear v. Solar Power. Published in: John Locke Foundation Spotlight No. 397

Abstract

A study by the North Carolina Waste Awareness Network (NC WARN), an anti–nuclear power advocacy group, argues that solar power today is less expensive than nuclear power. Media have embraced this study despite its absurd conclusion and its arbitrary use of subsidies in calculating the costs of competing energy sources. NC WARN calculates solar power’s costs at 35 cents per kWh then drastically lowers it by applying two subsidies (federal and state tax credits). Subsidies may reduce the price to consumers, but they do not reduce the cost of generating electricity. Otherwise, a 100 percent tax credit would make the generation of solar power completely free. Even so, NC WARN does not apply subsidies to lower the cost of nuclear power. Therefore, their report unfairly gives solar power the “benefit” of subsidies while denying it to nuclear power.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: nuclear power, solar power, energy
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H23 - Externalities ; Redistributive Effects ; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L94 - Electric Utilities

References

John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham, “Solar and Nuclear Costs – The Historic Crossover,” NC WARN: North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network, July 2010.

“Levelized Cost of New Electricity Generating Technologies,” Institute for Energy Research, May 12, 2009, updated Feb. 2, 2010, using data from the Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2010, www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/electricity_generation.html.

Mark Cooper, “The Economics of Nuclear Reactors: Renaissance or Relapse?,” Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, June 2009.