Prices for wind power sometimes drop to zero during times of light demand due to laws that require utilities buy it even when they don’t need it, which is certainly screwy and counter-intuitive. The fear that tax credits would expire at the end of 2012 spurred a burst of wind farm building in 2012, which also helps drive down prices. Wind power is now more economic in the midwest than nuclear.
A glut of government-subsidized wind power may help accomplish a goal some environmentalists have sought for decades: kill off U.S. nuclear power plants while reducing reliance on electricity from burning coal.