Dr. Conca reports today that a lone nuclear power plant, Columbia Generating Station, near Richland, Wash., generated a record 9.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The reactor has been operating since 1984 and has produced well over 200 billion kWhrs of electricity averaging between 4 and 5 cents per kWhr. Columbia Generating Station has an installed capacity of 1170 MW, so this 9.7 billion kWhrs represents a capacity factor of 95 percent for the year.
Capacity factor (cf) is the amount of energy actually produced over a year divided by the amount that the system could produce if it ran at capacity perfectly 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So for the Columbia Generating Station, this is calculated as: 1170 MW x 1000 kW per MW x 8766 hrs per year equals 10.3 billion kWhrs possible in a year. 9.7 billion kWhrs-10.3 billion kWhrs equals 0.95 or cf equals 95 percent Energy Northwest combines nuclear with solar, hydroelectric and wind to produce an ideal non-fossil fuel energy mix than conforms to the new EPA carbon rules incentivizing low-carbon electricity generation and produces an ideal non-fossil fuel energy mix that conforms to the new EPA carbon rules incentivizing low-carbon electricity generation.
Original working URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/07/23/nuclear-renewable-mix-is-just-what-the-epa-ordered/#7d805ffee7fc
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