Answer:
A renewable electricity generation technology harnesses a naturally existing energy flux, such as wind, sun, heat, or tides, and converts that flux to electricity. Natural phenomena have varying time constants, cycles, and energy densities. To tap these sources of energy, renewable electricity generation technologies must be located where the natural energy flux occurs, unlike conventional fossil-fuel and nuclear electricity-generating facilities, which can be located at some distance from their fuel sources. Renewable technologies also follow a paradigm somewhat different from conventional energy sources in that renewable energy can be thought of as manufactured energy, with the largest proportion of costs, external energy, and material inputs occurring during the manufacturing process. Although conventional sources such as nuclear- and coal-powered electricity generation have a high proportion of capital-to-fuel costs, all renewable technologies, except for biomass-generated electricity (biopower), have no fuel costs. The trade-off is the ongoing and future cost of fossil fuel against the present fixed capital costs of renewable energy technologies.
Scale economics likewise differs for renewables and conventional energy production. Larger coal-fired and nuclear-powered generating facilities exhibit lower average costs of generation than do smaller plants, realizing economies of scale based on the size of the facility. Renewable electricity achieves economies of scale prmarily at the equipment manufacturing stage rather than through construction of large facilities at the generating site. Large hydroelectric generating units are an exception and have on-site economies of scale, but not to the same extent as coal-and nuclear-powered electricity plants. :)
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