New Study Released
In a Free Market, Wind Energy is Superior to Nuclear Power
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Wind Beats Nuclear in Jobs, Electricity Benefits, Says French Study
The French government is expected to approve construction of the country’s 59th reactor, to cost 3.5 billion Euros for 1,550 MW of capacity. The same funding could install 7,616 MW of wind turbines, says ‘Wind vs Nuclear 2003,' produced for Greenpeace France by the research institute DETENTE. Wind would also generate 24 TW per year, sufficient to power 6.5 million homes, while nuclear would deliver only 10 TW.Investment in wind energy generates five times more jobs and 2.3 times more electricity than a nuclear reactor, according to a report commissioned by Greenpeace France.
“In recent years, wind power has gone through an industrial and technological revolution,” say authors Antoine Bonduelle and Mathias Lefère. While Germany has actively installed 13,500 MW of turbines, including 3,200 MW in the last year alone, “France is lagging far behind with only 220 MW installed today.” The European Wind Energy Association estimates that installed wind capacity will be 75,000 MW by 2010, the equivalent of 14 large reactors.
“In reality, wind has already taken the lead and left nuclear far behind,” with not a single reactor being connected to the grid in the last four years and a growing number of old reactors to be permanently shut down in the near future. The proposed European Pressurized Reactor would be commissioned by 2010 but the government may delay a decision until an energy debate in the National Assembly in March to discuss concerns over the EPR’s economics.
A survey shows that renewable energy is supported by 85% of the French clients of EdF and the report says the increase in wind is smoother than nuclear, which would be an advantage in the context of generation overcapacity. France will have a large need for new capacity by 2030, but a reactor in 2012 would be “more of a commercial handicap” to the utility that owns it.
DETENTE used cost estimates from the nuclear industry and government officials, but the report “questions the credibility and correctness of these figures, which in general favour the nuclear option by under-estimating nuclear costs and over-estimating costs related to wind power.”
"Greenpeace is urging state owned EdF, Electricity de France, not to impose yet another dangerous and uneconomic nuclear reactor on Europe,” says Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace. "Europe is at a crossroad and we refuse to let the nuclear lobby dictate our energy future without fair regard for the opinion, the environment and the security of people.”
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