<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/will-solar-succeed-where-nuclear-failed-and-become-too-cheap-to-meter/>
"In a speech delivered to the National Association of Science Writers in New
York City in September 1954 Lewis Strauss, the then-Chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission under President Eisenhower used the phrase “too cheap to
meter.”
At the time, there were no commercial nuclear power plants operating anywhere
and there was no empirical data on the cost of nuclear power.
The first commercial US nuclear power plant, the Duquesne Light Company’s
Shippingport Atomic Power Station, began operating 3 years later in
Pennsylvania in 1957. Clearly Strauss was merely speculating when he made his
remarks.
Somewhere in his speech Strauss predicted that, “Our children will enjoy in
their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter…Transmutation of the elements,
unlimited power … etc., etc.”
What he said – or more important – meant to say, has been debated ever since,
but too cheap to meter made the next day’s newspaper headlines and is
remembered while the rest of his speech has been mostly forgotten.
Initially, the phrase was assumed to promise the unlimited future potential of
nuclear energy, plentiful and cheap. Some believe that Strauss was talking
about nuclear fusion, not fission while others speculate that he was broadly
talking about future scientific and technological advancements.
As the years went on and over 100 nuclear reactors were built in the US alone,
it became clear that nuclear energy was not cheap at all, certainly not too
cheap to meter. The phrase gradually turned into a joke and Strauss its
undeserving recipient.
Fast forward to 2024 and it seems that 70 years after Strauss’ famous speech,
renewables – rather than nuclear – while not too cheap to meter, are certainly
cheaper than any other form of electricity generation.
They are also abundant and can be installed more or less anywhere quickly and
to scale. An article in the 23 Oct 2024 issue of
PV Magazine reported the
result of a recent competitive tender in Saudi Arabia to build a total of 3.7
GW of solar in 4 different locations with capacities of 300 MW to 2GW.
According to the Saudi Power Procurement Co. (SPPC), the agency in charge of
the competitive tender, the bids received promise to deliver solar energy at an
average cost of around 1.3 cents/kWh."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
