Michael Sankowski writes:
My calculations show that if solar maintains 5 more years at current 23% rates per year price drops, solar power will be cheaper than using existing coal plants. That’s right – it will be cheaper to build new solar plants than to use existing coal plants. It sounds absolutely crazy.
But it seems true looking at the data.
It is often inaccurate to extrapolate price decreases over a long period, but I hope that he is right.
Read more at Solar Is Going To Change The World Much Faster Than Anyone Expects | Business Insider Australia.
I hope he’s right too. I have been putting off buying panels until the price becomes realistic. Unfortunately you can’t replace Coal, Hydro or Gas with solar It’s fantastic until night falls.But then you need the capacity anyway so you end up building two power stations? Or just one that will work all the time. Along with improvements in solar we need improvements in power storage
I have been looking at alt energy for 25 years for my family. I am an electrical engineer. Solar, microhydro, etc. Different types of solar, etc etc.Energy Storage as much the bugger as panel cost. If you have wind and a forgiving HOA you can lighten up on storage capital investment somewhat, but for all the billions in research, you still can’t go down to Home Depot and buy products off the shelf that can equal tech and economic performance of “fossil” fuels.
I can go off energy grid … if I move the wife and I to a remote location, invest in a array of different energy sources, become expert in battery / windmill maintenance and cut 4 cords of wood to burn during the winter when there is no significant sunlight in my zone and no wind.
My wife isn’t really excited about that lifestyle change. It’s a great dream, but it just ain’t happening after all my study. Bummer…
Sign me…
Still looking for economy AND tech performance that really works
I lost 4 lbs last month. If I can keep it up for another 4 years, I calculate I will be weightless. Seems absurd but that’s what the numbers show.
I am very skeptical that solar can come anywhere near sustaining the growth rates of the past. Europe has already pulled back from the subsidies that propelled that growth. In the US, even the Obama administration is not able to keep investing in unsound solar companies. The impact of low cost gas is only now impacting solar.
Solar will turn out to be a good technology for specialized use. Nothing more.
It’s an exponential curve, so you never get to weightless — or free when it comes to solar. Solar is only one of several promising technologies that have the potential to compete with carbon-based energy sources. Not all will succeed, but hopefully some will.
If, Moore’s Law applies to solar cells, as the physics seems, electricity could be virtually free in 10 to 20 years. When the tipping point comes, coal and even oil industries could go the way of typewriters, Kodak, and whaling. Storage is still crucial, but if Elon Musk can get 250 miles on a charge, now, economic electical storage will come too.
Unfortunately this is an exponential curve, so it never gets to free. The future of energy storage: read about the use of graphene in super-capacitors.