Wind power can’t match coal potential

Let’s get real here. After quadrupling the amount of energy produced by wind turbines in this country over the past six years, America’s now getting a whopping 1 percent of its energy from wind power – about 10,000 megawatts.

That power is more expensive and less reliable than electricity from coal-fired generating plants, which offer nearly 336,000 megawatts of generating capacity or some 51 percent of the electricity actually used. Over the next 25 years, coal’s share of electricity production is forecast to increase to 56 percent as demand for power rises by 40 percent or more. Right now, there are more than 150 new coal-fired generating plants totaling some 27,000 megawatts of generating capacity planned for construction around the country.
Missoulian