Mississippians are compelled to pay for 2 electrical methods: one which works when the solar is out, and one which works when it isn’t.

Mississippi residents are constantly informed that renewable vitality sources, like photo voltaic panels, are actually the lowest-cost methods to generate electrical energy, however these claims are based mostly on inventive accounting gimmicks that solely study a small portion of the bills incurred to combine photo voltaic onto the grid whereas excluding many others.

When these hidden bills are accounted for, it turns into apparent that photo voltaic is way more costly than Mississippi’s present coal, pure gasoline, and nuclear energy crops and that including extra photo voltaic will enhance electrical energy costs for the households and companies that depend upon it. Some of the frequent methods of estimating the price of producing electrical energy from several types of energy crops is a metric referred to as the Levelized Value of Vitality, or LCOE.

The LCOE is an estimate of the long-term common value of manufacturing electrical energy from an influence plant. These values are estimated by taking the prices of the plant, equivalent to the cash wanted to construct and function it, gas prices, and the associated fee to borrow cash, and dividing them by the quantity of electrical energy generated by the plant (usually megawatt hours) over its helpful lifetime.

In different phrases, LCOE estimates are primarily like calculating the price of your automotive on a per-mile-driven foundation after accounting for bills like preliminary capital funding, mortgage and insurance coverage funds, gas prices, and upkeep.

We are able to estimate the LCOE of recent photo voltaic amenities in Mississippi by utilizing in a single day capital value estimates from the U.S. Vitality Data Administration (EIA) Electrical energy Market Module and different state-specific components. We are able to then examine the price of photo voltaic to the real-world value information for the coal and pure gasoline mills on the Victor J. Daniel Jr. Producing Plant, and the Grand Gulf nuclear energy plant utilizing the Federal Vitality Regulatory Fee (FERC) Type 1 database.

The graph beneath reveals that electrical energy generated by new photo voltaic panels would value $50.67 per megawatt hour when accounting for the truth that monopoly utilities are allowed to extend electrical energy costs to cowl the price of constructing any new photo voltaic amenities that obtain approval from the Mississippi Public Service Fee, plus a ten % price of return, proven as “utility earnings,” beneath.

These value estimates are, I ought to level out, for the unsubsidized value of photo voltaic – what you may name the actual, or underlying value of manufacturing it.  This issues as a result of the Biden administration’s huge $370 billion so-called “Inflation Discount Act” presents large subsidies for photo voltaic, which on the floor appear to cut back the price of photo voltaic.  In actuality, what the IRA subsidies do is cut back the associated fee paid by some by passing on the prices to the taxpayer.  Subsidy, in different phrases, doesn’t change the underlying prices of photo voltaic, which stay unattractive irrespective of what number of inducements the federal authorities presents us to go photo voltaic. 

Essentially the most reasonably priced electrical energy within the state was generated by the mixed cycle (CC) pure gasoline models on the Victor J. Daniel Producing Plant at a value $30.31 per MWh, based mostly on the 2021 delivered value of pure gasoline, which was $3.90 per million British thermal models (MMBtu), and electrical energy technology. Pure gasoline costs may need risen not too long ago, however even at these elevated costs, pure gasoline offers Mississippians higher worth than photo voltaic.  So, too, does nuclear.   

The following most reasonably priced energy plant was the Grand Gulf nuclear facility, which generated electrical energy for $32.10 per MWh, based mostly on 2021 output. Lastly, the coal models on the Victor J. Daniel Producing Plant produced electrical energy for $43.83 per MWh, based mostly on 2021 delivered coal costs of $2.55 per MMBtu and electrical energy technology. 

However wait, there’s extra. 

Not solely are photo voltaic panels costlier than the present pure gasoline, coal, and nuclear crops on Mississippi’s electrical grid, however in addition they present much less worth as a result of they don’t present electrical energy if the solar isn’t shining, which is more often than not. 

Statistics from EIA present photo voltaic amenities in Mississippi solely generated about 22 % of their potential output in 2021, which suggests utility corporations would want to put in 450 megawatts (MW) of photo voltaic to generate 100 MW of electrical energy, on common, over the course of a 12 months, requiring an enormous overbuild of capability to get the identical annual vitality output. 

Creating an electrical grid able to incorporating all of those further photo voltaic panels would require taking 1000’s extra of acres of land, constructing extra transmission traces to attach these panels to the grid, and transferring the ability to the place it’s wanted. These prices, together with the property taxes related to the land, the traces, and the opposite gear, shall be handed alongside to prospects by means of their electrical energy charges.  

Based on the Midcontinent Impartial Methods Operator (MISO), these transmission traces routinely value between $2.5 million and $3.1 million per mile. Regardless of their huge price ticket, photo voltaic advocates don’t normally embrace these transmission prices of their LCOE calculations as a result of they’re inconvenient. 

Lastly, it is very important do not forget that irrespective of what number of photo voltaic panels are put in in Mississippi, the electrical energy wants of the state will nonetheless require using pure gasoline energy crops or costly new battery storge amenities to offer electrical energy when the solar isn’t shining, which occurs each evening. Because of this, Mississippi households and companies are compelled to pay for 2 electrical methods: one which works when the solar is out, and one which works when it isn’t.  

The info are clear: when all these prices are added up, we see that photo voltaic is way more costly than utilizing Mississippi’s present pure gasoline, coal, or nuclear energy crops. Due to this fact, the Mississippi Public Service Commissioners ought to shield ratepayers from the pointless value will increase that can inevitably consequence from constructing extra photo voltaic amenities within the Magnolia State.