Solar is now "the cheapest electricity in history", confirms the IEA

[billvon 3,049]

Also in the news - Amazon to be 100% renewable energy within 4 years.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/04/19/amazon-adds-solar-storage-and-wind-as-it-pushes-to-hit-100-renewable-by-2025/

[JoeWeber 2,790]

49 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

This is awesome!  Everything is going to be just great!  I can’t wait for the new progressive paradise!
OTOH, remember when Obama promised that he would heal the planet and reverse the seas?  I’m betting Biden will fare no better.

Time for you to cast off your training wheels and go the Candace Owens route I'm thinking. Why abuse yourself for free?

[olofscience 489]

6 hours ago, brenthutch said:

So was the petroleum industry.

So?

[olofscience 489]

Back on topic, Texas is on track to add record solar power capacity by next year:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-solar-power/texas-on-track-to-add-record-solar-power-capacity-by-end-of-2022-idUSKBN2C81UZ

[billvon 3,049]

Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia solar is taking over rapidly.  The Saudis just announced 3.6GW of solar projects, with the first one coming in at 1 cent/kwhr.  This means an energy equivalent of one large nuclear power plant (1GW) since solar is only available at full power about 30% of the time, whereas nuclear power plants are available 95% of the time.

Note - the way these things work is that there's a sort of reverse auction, where the government pledges to pay a certain amount for a certain time (20-30 years) for the energy generated from the plant, then a company bids for that amount.  Lowest bid wins, which in this case was 1.04 cents/kwhr.  Since this is far lower than any other source, they are buying a lot of it.

https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/pivotal-moment-as-oil-rich-saudis-open-first-green-power-plant-and-claim-record-low-10-mwh-deal/2-1-993953

[Phil1111 1,149]

5 hours ago, billvon said:

Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia solar is taking over rapidly.  ...

Gotta hand it to the Saudi's. They persuade the GOP and guys like Brent to buy Saudi oil. To defend it with their lives. To defend its sea lanes.To look the other way when they kill their own dissidents and critics.

They generate solar electricity so they can ship more oil to keep the GOP and Brent happy. All while selling the narrative that there is no global warming. Coming soon to America and FOX. Oil and more anti global warming B.S.

[gowlerk 2,236]

53 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

Gotta hand it to the Saudi's. They persuade the GOP and guys like Brent to buy Saudi oil. To defend it with their lives. To defend its sea lanes.To look the other way when they kill their own dissidents and critics.

They generate solar electricity so they can ship more oil to keep the GOP and Brent happy. All while selling the narrative that there is no global warming. Coming soon to America and FOX. Oil and more anti global warming B.S.

All while pretending their population wasn't 100% behind bin Laden's great triumph.

[billvon 3,049]

Update on panel prices - 

I get some email from various suppliers who sell panels to installers and dealers (and I am officially a dealer for a few suppliers.)  Today's deal:

Hyperion 550W Bifacial Tier 1 Modules 

1MW at $0.148/W
FTL (576 pcs) at $0.168/W
MOQ 10pallets (360 pcs) at $0.189/W

So you can get a truckload of new bifacial panels for far less than 20 cents a watt.  Again, when I first looked into solar they were $10/watt - and this was back in 1989, unadjusted prices.  That means new 550 watt panels for $92 each - and they will generate a few kilowatt-hours a day in most places in the US.  That means payoff in less than a year with average US power prices.

Now for your home you are, of course, going to need more stuff - racking, inverter, BOS.  That will push the price up.  Average installed price in the US is now around $2.60 a watt, which is an indication of just how much money solar installers are making these days.

But on the other hand if you are PG+E you're going to go to Hyperion and haggle and get 100 megawatts for much less than that.  And that's one reason solar is growing so fast; it is becoming dirt cheap.

[kallend 2,094]

I just returned from Iceland. 100% renewable electricity, 20% cheaper than US average cost. Charging stations everywhere. Lots of electric vehicles.

 

and our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. It was Diesel powered. 

[brenthutch 444]

2 hours ago, kallend said:

I just returned from Iceland. 100% renewable electricity, 20% cheaper than US average cost. Charging stations everywhere. Lots of electric vehicles.

 

and our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. It was Diesel powered. 

Geothermal and hydro, very location dependent. 

[olofscience 489]

58 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Geothermal and hydro, very location dependent. 

Yet you were criticising Europe for not fracking and getting dependent on Russian gas...

[billvon 3,049]

1 hour ago, brenthutch said:

Geothermal and hydro, very location dependent. 

Oil, coal and gas, even more so.

[JerryBaumchen 1,415]

Hi folks,

Solar saved the day:  Helene and Milton put this net-zero, hurricane-proof community to the test. The lights stayed on as everything else went dark | CNN

Jerry Baumchen

[billvon 3,049]

Fundraisers are asking for money to provide solar power systems for people in areas affected by the hurricane.  Some are using gas generators, but gasoline is getting expensive and the dirt roads they are using now will not be passable in the winter.  They need the reliability of solar.

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-weave-powers-solar-relief-efforts?attribution_id=sl:9148a13b-de86-466f-b8fb-590f390ffeca&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp8_c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

[JerryBaumchen 1,415]

Hi folks,

IMO one thing is for sure:  We are all different.

I am opposed to any form of nuclear energy due to the yet-to-be-solved problem of the waste products.  I do not want my grandchildren to have to live with it.

This was a really big deal on the local news a few yrs ago:  While the nuclear industry tries to pass itself off as “clean,” it is an extremely dirty technology,

The Rise and Fall of NuScale: a nuclear cautionary tale • Oregon Capital Chronicle

Jerry Baumchen

[brenthutch 444]

On 10/10/2024 at 1:02 PM, billvon said:

Oil, coal and gas, even more so.

You have said some foolish things in the past but this one is a real doozy. One has to go where geothermal and hydro are viable, oil coal and gas come to you. Natural gas produced in Pennsylvania and used a half a world away keeping Europeans warm.

Edited October 31, 2024 by brenthutch