The Tennessee Valley Authority said it is bringing online 1, 200 megawatts of nuclear power, purchasing 27 megawatts of wind power and updating hydro generating facilities.

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As I noted in my February 24 column, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that for new power-generating facilities entering service in 2016, onshore wind power will be 49% more expensive than conventional coal over the lifetime of the respective facilities, offshore wind will be 90% more expensive than coal, solar thermal will be 155% more expensive than coal, and solar photovoltaic will be 295% more expensive than coal.

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And skeptics are also saying that wind energy is an intermittent fuel that must always be backed up by a power source that can begin generating when the wind dies down, making it expensive to operate.

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That is, wind power is almost always going to fail as a generating source just at the point of our annual peak demand.

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But how much more could it be when offshore wind, wave and tidal turbines are in place and generating power?

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As we continue to think greener and smarter, we'll see new possibilities, like the long-term power-generating potential of an intact Appalachian mountaintop with wind turbines vs. chopping it to pieces for a few years' worth of burnable coal and centuries of environmental devastation.

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Indeed, various companies, including GE, are investing heavily in ways to come up with cost-effective systems to store the wind and solar energy that their wind turbines and solar technologies capture in combination with other means of generating electricity and power.

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