How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,192]

6 hours ago, NickW said:

A barrage is a dam. Its main difference is it works in both directions at a relatively low head. 

Here we are talking head pressure of 10m at 50m+ depths, not ~1m or 2m differences at 10m depth at most.  Vast difference.  One you need a strong seal of concrete and bedrock, the other a pile of dirt works just fine where the only thing you have to worry about is erosion. 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

55 minutes ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Lets see;  I'll take first hand eye witness reports over dumbo internet troll.

Just watch some honest travel documentary on YouTube. Troll yourself.

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

6 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

Free wifi haha nobody owns computers, if they work for the government wouldnt you expect that the employees didnt have to pay for the wifi they need to do their job??

Dunno about computers, but everybody got smartphones. Some of those are rather expensive late model iPhones, which I find fairly odd, but not that unusual.

Cuba before Castro was a typical Latin American shithole. It is much better now. Will be better still once the last vestiges of Yankee economic blockade are gone. Which is a foregone conclusion now. Cuba actually got a bunch of oil. Russians got nothing to lose. Chinese are sponsoring. Cubans quite like the Russians and Chinese.

Really, Yankees, you've got to GO HOME. While you still can do it in one piece.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Andrei Moutchkine

[Jay McKinsey + 1,490]

2 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Dunno about computers, but everybody got smartphones. Some of those are rather expensive late model iPhones, which I find fairly odd, but not that unusual.

Cuba before Castro was a typical Latin American shithole. It is much better now. Will be better still once the last vestiges of Yankee economic blockade are gone. Which is a foregone conclusion now. Cuba actually got a bunch of oil. Russians got nothing to lose. Chinese are sponsoring. Cubans quite like the Russians and Chinese.

Really, Yankees, you've got to GO HOME. While you still can do it in one piece.

Oil Reserves in Cuba

See also: List of countries by Oil Reserves

Cuba holds 124,000,000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016, ranking 68th in the world and accounting for about 0.0% of the world's total oil reserves of 1,650,585,140,000 barrels.

Cuba has proven reserves equivalent to 2.2 times its annual consumption. This means that, without imports, there would be about 2 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

[notsonice + 1,259]

2 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Dunno about computers, but everybody got smartphones. Some of those are rather expensive late model iPhones, which I find fairly odd, but not that unusual.

Cuba before Castro was a typical Latin American shithole. It is much better now. Will be better still once the last vestiges of Yankee economic blockade are gone. Which is a foregone conclusion now. Cuba actually got a bunch of oil. Russians got nothing to lose. Chinese are sponsoring. Cubans quite like the Russians and Chinese.

Really, Yankees, you've got to GO HOME. While you still can do it in one piece.

Really, Yankees, you've got to GO HOME. While you still can do it in one piece. ???

 

says the guy who hides in Austria and does not go home himself.....

Why are you still in Austria if Russia is so great????? trying to avoid the reality that Russia is the new Cuba????

or better yet you can move to Cuba...they love Russians ....ha ha ha....

You would not last 24 hours in Cuba.....The electric power??? never on for more than 12 hours a day.....

at least you would lose some weight.....food is at a premium when you can get it and you have to walk everywhere.....

no fat people in Cuba ....except government employees

 

your job as a troll would be at best part time as you cannot surf the web...The Cuban government restricts everything you do.....

 

Buy a plane ticket and head to paradise, he he he, Cuba needs your rubles, ha ha ha (they really want only dollars...the black market in them is booming)

 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

5 hours ago, notsonice said:

Really, Yankees, you've got to GO HOME. While you still can do it in one piece. ???

 

says the guy who hides in Austria and does not go home himself.....

Why are you still in Austria if Russia is so great????? trying to avoid the reality that Russia is the new Cuba????

or better yet you can move to Cuba...they love Russians ....ha ha ha....

You would not last 24 hours in Cuba.....The electric power??? never on for more than 12 hours a day.....

at least you would lose some weight.....food is at a premium when you can get it and you have to walk everywhere.....

no fat people in Cuba ....except government employees

 

your job as a troll would be at best part time as you cannot surf the web...The Cuban government restricts everything you do.....

 

Buy a plane ticket and head to paradise, he he he, Cuba needs your rubles, ha ha ha (they really want only dollars...the black market in them is booming)

 

I am no longer sure socialism is really a failed economic experiment. We should see how it works without the world's largest economy trying to wreck yours all the time.

[NickW + 2,714]

14 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Here we are talking head pressure of 10m at 50m+ depths, not ~1m or 2m differences at 10m depth at most.  Vast difference.  One you need a strong seal of concrete and bedrock, the other a pile of dirt works just fine where the only thing you have to worry about is erosion. 

The weight of the water on the other side partially counter balances that as we not talking about a dam with 50 metres of water on one side and air on the other.

The usual approach is to use caisson blocks . This wasn't viewed as a technical challenge in the Bristol Channel tidal barrage proposals back in the 1970's and 1980's although depth were less. The lowest chart datums in the outer and middle barrage proposals are 20-25m

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

The Big Lie Of Woke Capitalism - Woke Capitalism and ESG -

The Fascism of Stakeholder Capitalism

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/big-lie-woke-capitalism

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,192]

15 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

I am no longer sure socialism is really a failed economic experiment. We should see how it works without the world's largest economy trying to wreck yours all the time.

Pretty simple, stand on your own.  If you can't it sucks.  Socialism = evil incarnate just as monopoly/oligarchy is.  Balance is required

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:19 PM, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Pretty simple, stand on your own.  If you can't it sucks.  Socialism = evil incarnate just as monopoly/oligarchy is.  Balance is required

The population of USSR/Eastern Block got sold on a brutally primitivist take that capitalism/competition is good and socialism/cooperation is bad. Alas, it is not so. There is a place for both competition and cooperation in any real business. You can observe that pretty much every business niche is populated by a small cartel. For example, Boeing and Airbus or Intel and AMD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition

is a "milk market" Nobody makes any profit. What is socialism to you? State business ownership? Russian economy today is over 70% state owned, which is more than in communist China. It is tremendously profitable. Is it socialist?

Needless to say, this sort of BS is not flying the 2nd time around. US does not stand for any kind of special "democracy" while its opponents represent "authoritarianism" Russia is a successful "managed democracy" in that it is really a hybrid of oligarchy and counterintelligence state most similar to the USA itself. The Chinese claim to be a meritocracy, with some credentials to show.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Andrei Moutchkine

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

21 hours ago, Tom Nolan said:

The Big Lie Of Woke Capitalism - Woke Capitalism and ESG -

The Fascism of Stakeholder Capitalism

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/big-lie-woke-capitalism

Duh. This stuff is an obvious decoy from real left-wing politics, which should be about wealth redistribution of the top 0.01% who actually do  have any influence on policymaking.

Sri Lanka just represented for its near perfect 98% ESG score. (The WEF supposedly removed the document outlining how this is invariably going to Sri Lankans getting-rich-quick from its page and Google search results) I expect to see some story about how Lankan ESG was no proper ESG, but real ESG is good. Just like the Soviet socialism was no proper socialism, you know?

A conventional corporation probably shouldn't engage in any activity that is not part of its articles of incorporation. Which is normally nothing but maximizing return on shareholder equity. Having said that, it is not a very healthy lifestyle. It is a well known fact that only one company that was part of Dow 100 years ago is still around - US Steel. I can tell you a good candidate for the next 100 years - BRK. Typically, a US corporation cannot resist the allure of "investor relations" That is, its primary business activity invariably ends up being that of manipulating its own stock. No real business is ever as good as this. They are non-profit corporations which are approaching 400 years of age though, specifically the major research universities. Maybe they've been doing something right? (Not that no profit does not mean no revenue. AMZN is effectively a non-profit

[specinho + 470]

On 7/13/2022 at 7:14 AM, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Pretty hard to have traffic without cars... Nor is a citizen allowed to own a chicken or a cow...

It is like Cuba's "free" Health care... Bring your own sheets, antiseptic to clean everything, gauze, and light bulbs otherwise the operation will be done in the dark without any antiseptic..  Of course you can't buy antiseptic, gauze etc, so... Good luck

not too sure what do they use as fuel for their cars...... ethanol? pardon my ignorant........ A quick check shows they do have a little reserve for oil.... Free for the citizens also?

Heard they used to have one of the most advanced outcomes of medical  research back in the 80's, when Castro was in charged. They produced one of the best sportsmen and sportswomen in a few Olympic games. They must have had everything until discrepancy in trust and selfishness of the underlings deprived others off what they could or should have......... including free food...... free housing etc.......

[specinho + 470]

On 7/13/2022 at 2:32 AM, notsonice said:

and look at Cuba today........Putin sure does look like the new Castro

not too sure if Miguel Diaz has any relation with Castro?

Did you know how much Castro had done for his country and people in 5 to 10 years? Reference points: medical research, sports, economy development, well fare of citizens/ government employees etc... Is that statement you meant a compliment to Putin? '-'

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by specinho

[Jay McKinsey + 1,490]

A UK government auction has secured a record 11 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy capacity that will generate electricity four times more cheaply than current gas prices.

The projects are all due to start operating within the next five years up to 2026/27 and have agreed to generate electricity for an average price of £48 per megawatt hour (MWh) in today’s money. This is four times cheaper than the £196/MWh current cost of running gas-fired power stations.

Most of the new capacity – some 7GW – will be offshore wind. Notably, for the first time, these projects were cheaper than the 1.5GW of onshore wind or 2.2GW of solar.

Once the pre-approved projects are built, Carbon Brief estimates they will generate 42 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to meet around 13% of current UK demand.

Analysts said they would also save consumers an estimated £1.5bn per year in the late 2020s and cut annual average bills by £58, with most of the projects effectively subsidy-free.

This is the UK’s fourth biannual “contracts for difference” (CfD) auction round (AR4). As well as seeing record-low prices, with 11GW of capacity secured, it is also by far the largest.

The first round in 2015 awarded contracts to 2GW of capacity. This rose to 3GW in the 2017 second round, where offshore wind became cheaper than new gas plants.

The 2019 third round contracted 6GW of capacity, including the first subsidy-free offshore windfarms, with prices below those expected on the open market.

Future rounds will take place every year.

AR4 auction results

The UK government has committed to getting 95% of the country’s electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030 and to fully decarbonise the grid by 2035. It is also aiming for “up to” 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, including “up to” 5GW from floating offshore schemes.

CfD auctions for new renewable energy capacity are the UK’s primary route for achieving these targets. Auctions have been held every two years since 2015, but will now be held annually.

Glossary

CONTRACTS FOR DIFFERENCE: The new subsidy scheme to support investments in low-carbon electricity generation. Schemes are paid a fixed "strike price" for each unit of electricity they produce, giving investors the promise of steady returns.… Read More

Under the contracts, projects agree to generate electricity for a “strike price” that is fixed in real terms, meaning it is index-linked to inflation. The results are usually reported in 2012 prices.

Once projects have been built, the money they earn from generating electricity is compared with a market reference price. If this is lower than the strike price, the project receives a subsidy to make up the difference. When prices are higher, the project must pay back the extra money.

Amid a global energy crisis, current market prices are extremely high, due to the soaring cost of gas. They are expected to remain elevated for a number of years.

As a result, the bulk of this week’s auction winners are expected to pay back to consumers for much of their lives, making them effectively subsidy-free. (Though there is disagreement over exactly what the term “subsidy free” means.)

The contracts are awarded in a reverse auction, where the lowest bid wins. The auction is divided into various “pots”, where contracts are reserved for different groups of technologies.

This system of “pots” is designed to allow emerging technologies to win contracts even though they may be more expensive than established options. This week’s auction is the first since 2015 to have included “pot 1” established technologies, which covers onshore wind and solar.

The auction results for each technology are shown in the table below, with columns showing the year the projects are due to start operating. In total, some 93 projects with a capacity of 10.8GW won contracts, at an average price of £41/MWh in 2012 prices (£48/MWh in today’s money).

Offshore wind was the cheapest and most significant technology, with 7.0GW of new capacity winning contracts at a record-low price of £37/MWh in 2012 prices (£44/MWh in current money).

Some 2.2GW of new solar capacity also won contracts at an average £46/MWh (£55/MWh today), along with 0.9GW of onshore wind at £42/MWh (£50/MWh today) and another 0.6GW of “remote island wind” at £46/MWh (£55/MWh today).

This auction round was the largest to date by far, securing roughly twice as much capacity as the third round and three times as much as the second, It was also the joint cheapest, with a capacity-weighted average price of £41/MWh in 2012 prices.

The 10.8GW of capacity in total can be expected to generate around 42TWh of electricity, around 13% of current UK generation and enough to cover the usage of over half or UK homes – or all the additional supply needed to run electric vehicles by the end of the decade.

This 42TWh of new renewable generation, which is due to be up and running in five years, can be compared with the roughly 25TWh of electricity that will be produced by the Hinkley C new nuclear plant in Somerset. Hinkley C has a CfD for £92.50/MWh in 2012 prices (£110/MWh today) and is due to start operating 10 years after its contract was awarded in 2016.

Notably, a 30 megawatt (MW) floating offshore wind project secured a contract in this week’s auction for £87/MWh (£104/MWh). This is well ahead of the cost reduction trajectory for floating offshore wind, under which it was already expected to become “subsidy free by 2030”.

The still-nascent technology is seen as a key to unlocking the potential of the sector because it can be used in deeper water, further from shore, where wind speeds are more consistent. It can also be used in countries, such as Japan, that are surrounded by deep ocean.

Four times cheaper than gas

The prices secured in this week’s auction are the lowest ever, with the £37/MWh for offshore wind in 2012 prices falling below the previous record of £39.65/MWh.

The prices for onshore wind and solar were also lower than in previous auction rounds.

Moreover, the projects are all around four times cheaper than the current price of electricity generated in gas-fired power stations, as shown in the chart below.

This price for gas reflects the cost of running existing power plants – buying fuel and permits to emit carbon dioxide – whereas the CfD prices are for building entirely new projects from scratch.

Government estimates of the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) from various technologies (solid lines) versus CfD strike prices and actual power prices (dashed lines). Figures are all in £(2021) per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity, plotted against the year of delivery, for example the lowest figure is £44/MWh for offshore wind CfD projects due to start operating in 2026/27. Source: Carbon Brief analysis of government cost projections published in 2010, 2011, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2020  and CfD auction results from 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022, with all prices adjusted to £2021 using the Treasury deflator. Actual power prices are weekly, monthly or yearly average day-ahead prices from Nordpool. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

The record-low prices were unexpected as commodity price inflation is thought to have increased the cost of installing wind and solar projects this year. With CfD auctions due to be held annually, there is already speculation about whether there could be higher prices next year.

With strike prices so far below the levels seen in the open market and with high gas prices now expected to persist for years, the projects secured in this week’s auction are due to pay back considerable sums to consumers.

According to Thomas Edwards, modeller at consultancy Cornwall Insight, AR4 projects would pay back £1.5bn a year towards the end of the 2020s, based on their latest price forecasts.

He tells Carbon Brief the projects “will pay back to consumers for much of their lives”.

Similarly, Nathan Bennett, head of public affairs for industry group Renewable UK, tweeted that the schemes would lower average household energy bills by £58 a year.

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a thinktank, says the projects would save households £100 a year, if the current extremely high market prices persisted. In this scenario, it says savings from current and future CfD projects could reach £500 per household.

The government’s advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC) has estimated that the cost of integrating variable wind and solar into the energy system is around £10/MWh when the generation mix is 50-65% renewable, with the figure rising to £25-30/MWh at 75-90% renewables.

National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO), which manages the grid for Great Britain, is working towards being able to operate a stable and secure grid without any fossil fuel power plants for hours at a time by 2025 – and all of the time by 2035.

In addition to the announcement of the CfD auction results, this week also saw the launch of plans for investment of £54bn in upgrading the country’s electricity grid to absorb ever-increasing output from low-carbon technologies, in particular offshore wind.

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Jay McKinsey

[Michael Sanches + 187]

"Once the pre-approved projects are built, Carbon Brief estimates they will generate 42 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to meet around 13% of current UK demand."

That is at full capacity. Texas windmills are currently generating 8% of their full capacity during the heat wave. You cannot guarantee the wind will blow at 100% every day.

[Michael Sanches + 187]

Family needed to replace 2014 Ford focus battery. Cost is $14,000. But, even at that price you cannot buy one as they no longer make them.

[Jay McKinsey + 1,490]

10 hours ago, Michael Sanches said:

"Once the pre-approved projects are built, Carbon Brief estimates they will generate 42 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to meet around 13% of current UK demand."

That is at full capacity. Texas windmills are currently generating 8% of their full capacity during the heat wave. You cannot guarantee the wind will blow at 100% every day.

No, that annual output number is based on using the capacity factor. As to variability, that is what batteries and green hydrogen are for.

Utility-scale energy storage activity in the UK saw strong growth during 2021 with annual deployment growing 70% compared to 2020. Additionally, the pipeline of future projects increased by 11 GW to over 27 GW by the end of 2021.

Texas won't have a problem once they get all the solar+storage built out that is in the pipeline.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Jay McKinsey

[Michael Sanches + 187]

7 hours ago, Jay McKinsey said:

Texas won't have a problem once they get all the solar+storage built out that is in the pipeline.

As of Oct. 2021, ERCOT had about 1100 MW of grid-connected battery storage in service with a pipeline of 4,000 MW by March 2023.

In 2019, ERCOT generated 220,614 MW of electricity.per day by wind and solar. So, by March 2023, battery storage  in Texas will = 153 replacement minutes of wind and solar power.

 

 

[turbguy + 1,545]

17 hours ago, Michael Sanches said:

 

That is at full capacity. Texas windmills are currently generating 8% of their full capacity during the heat wave. You cannot guarantee the wind will blow at 100% every day.

True. You can, however predict quite well what to expect the next day or two, and MANAGE it.  For many days, ERCOT's wind and solar has outperformed expectations.  For instance, ERCOT today...

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by turbguy

[Jay McKinsey + 1,490]

5 hours ago, Michael Sanches said:

As of Oct. 2021, ERCOT had about 1100 MW of grid-connected battery storage in service with a pipeline of 4,000 MW by March 2023.

In 2019, ERCOT generated 220,614 MW of electricity.per day by wind and solar. So, by March 2023, battery storage  in Texas will = 153 replacement minutes of wind and solar power.

 

 

The pipeline has grown a little since then:

Texas Commissioners Considering New Distribution Interconnection Standards for Battery Storage

April 4, 2022

With some 65 GW of solar and storage already in the interconnection queue, the TPUC is concerned about an unknown amount of BESS eventually linking into the distribution system.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages that state’s electric grid, has an incoming power distribution problem bigger than you can hang a hat on.

Recent discussions within the Texas Public Utility Commission concerns challenges over vast amounts of utility-scale solar and energy storage capacity joining into the already massive and diverse ERCOT system. The TPUC also wants to figure out cohesive policy on handling that influx of solar and storage as it enters the distribution grid.

“There are 36,000 MWs of utility-scale solar plus energy storage systems, and over 31,000 MW of stand-alone storage in the ERCOT Interconnection queue,” TPUC Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty wrote in an open memo to Chairman Peter Lake and fellow commissioners Lori Cobos and Will McAdams.

Beyond that may be a potential torrent of battery energy storage systems either within utility-scale or perhaps microgrid projects on a more customer-facing level.

“Unfortunately it is unknown how many megawatts of battery storage are seeking to interconnect to the distribution systems across ERCOT’s utilities, municipal utilities and electric cooperatives,” Glotfelty added. “The lack of visility into these distribution assets is an oversight.”

 https://www.tdworld.com/distributed-energy-resources/energy-storage/article/21238009/energytech-texas-commissioners-considering-new-distribution-interconnection-standards-for-battery-storage

Edited July 19, 2022 by Jay McKinsey

[Ron Wagner + 710]

On 7/18/2022 at 1:08 AM, Michael Sanches said:

Family needed to replace 2014 Ford focus battery. Cost is $14,000. But, even at that price you cannot buy one as they no longer make them.

I would think that someone should be manufacturing custom lithium batteries. They are made of small batteries in different shapes and sizes. I am sure there are a lot of complications with wiring, controllers etc. but that should be known technology. For that price you could almost buy a Mitsubishi Mirage and get up to 40 mpg. 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:15 AM, Ron Wagner said:

I would think that someone should be manufacturing custom lithium batteries. They are made of small batteries in different shapes and sizes. I am sure there are a lot of complications with wiring, controllers etc. but that should be known technology. For that price you could almost buy a Mitsubishi Mirage and get up to 40 mpg. 

"Complications with controllers" is quite an understatement, Ron. It is best NOT to make automotive batteries out of laptop-sized parts, Tesla-style.

[notsonice + 1,259]

 

the death of coal around the world

 

 

on track to install something like 250 gigawatts of solar capacity this year........

 

Global solar demand ‘staggering,' on track to grow 30%: analyst

Grace O'Donnell

·Assistant Editor

Sat, July 30, 2022 at 6:42 AM·4 min read

The energy transition is well underway as solar demand blazes higher.

Rob Barnett, a senior clean energy analyst at Bloomberg, forecasted that solar capacity installations are on track to grow by 30% globally this year and see sustained double-digit growth in 2023 through 2025.

“At the end of the day, the global solar picture is just staggering at this point," Barnett told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "We are on track to install something like 250 gigawatts of solar capacity this year. I know most folks don't think in gigawatts, but that is a very large amount. It's more than the installed capacity of a number of European countries.”

China leads the world in solar capacity and plans to double the amount of solar panels deployed this year.

Renewable energy is reaching record highs in other countries as well. Germany broke its record for solar generation on July 17, Bloomberg reported, as a searing heat wave swept Europe. And thanks to solar and wind installations, U.S. renewable energy generation hit an all-time high of 28% in April.

The boom in solar is just beginning, Barnett said, “and so there really is this big, top-line growth scenario that we see unfolding for all of the companies that are participating in the solar supply chain."

Investors can play to this theme in a number of ways, Barnett explained. "You've got First Solar, Canadian Solar — these companies that make the modules that you see out on, perhaps, roofs or out in a field somewhere," he said. "And then you've got other supporting companies like SolarEdge or Enphase, which make the inverters that convert the DC electricity from solar into AC for the grid."

 

Electricians with IBEW Local 3 install solar panels on top of the Terminal B garage at LaGuardia Airport, Nov. 9, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Energy costs driving clean power

As extreme weather events around the globe demonstrate the climate crisis happening in real time, many countries have held fast to their climate targets, at least on paper.

However, soaring oil and gas prices, particularly in Europe, have complicated the picture in recent months.

In early July, the European Union voted to label natural gas as a green energy source in some instances, which threatened to derail its climate ambitions. But at the same time, higher natural gas and oil prices have made renewables seem cheap by comparison.

“I do think that there is increasing focus on all sorts of solutions to try to help manage emissions and tackle the concerns of climate change,” Barnett said. “But I would actually argue that the bigger driver for clean energy demand, particularly here in Europe, is elevated energy costs.”

And while higher oil prices sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have made solar a more cost-competitive option, it helps that the price of solar had already fallen precipitously in recent years.

Experts who predicted an incremental drop in solar prices have marveled at just how quickly they've plummeted due to improved efficiency and lower module prices. In 2000, the cost of solar modules hovered around $4.88 per watt. By 2019, that cost fell to $0.38 per watt.

In 2021, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported that renewable energy was the cheapest source of power. IRENA also found that around two-thirds of renewable energy projects were cheaper than bringing new coal plants online, something unthinkable just decades ago.

As a result, solar demand is likely to sustain its momentum — even if oil and natural gas prices subside.

"It's certainly possible that if you had some easing in the traditional fuel markets, that it might take the accelerator off," Barnett said. "But I don't really see that as being a material risk on the demand side of the equation for clean energy."

Barnett added that while renewables like solar aren't always a “turnkey solution” due to intermittencies, “I do think that the economics are already quite good. And so you'd have to see such a sea change in terms of gas prices or coal prices, if you're thinking about the power grid, to really reverse some of the trends. And I just don't think there's any appetite for it either.”

Grace is an assistant editor for Yahoo Finance.

Edited July 31, 2022 by notsonice

[notsonice + 1,259]

 

the death of coal one solar panel and one wind turbine at a time...and following the the footsteps Oil...

 

please note

China’s large-scale solar investments totalled $41bn in 1H 2022, up 173% from the year before and it also invested $58bn in new wind projects, up 107% year-on-year.

“The investment growth trend follows China’s strategy to build new renewable generation capacity so that it can replace its existing coal fleet.

Solar, wind investment in H1 hits $226bn

'Record-breaking' figure shows acceleration in demand for clean energy despite rising input costs, says BNEF

2 August 2022 12:13 Other News [Image: Unsplash/Andres Simon

 

Global investment in renewables totalled $226bn in the first half of 2022, setting a new record for the first six months of a year, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF).

 

The uptick in investment reflects an acceleration in demand for clean energy supplies to tackle the ongoing global energy and climate crises, the analyst stated.

 

BNEF’s latest report, the Renewable Energy Investment Tracker 2H 2022, found that Investment in new large- and small-scale solar projects rose to a record-breaking $120bn, up 33% from the first half of 2021.

Wind project financing was up 16% from 1H 2021, at $84bn.

 

Both sectors have been challenged recently by rising input costs for key materials such as steel and polysilicon, as well as supply chain disruptions and rising financing costs.

 

The figures indicate that investor appetite is stronger than ever, in part due to the very high energy prices currently being seen in many markets around the world, BNEF stated.

 

As well as seeing booming project investments, the first half also saw an all-time record for venture capital and private equity investments into renewables and energy storage, with $9.6bn raised - up 63% on the previous year.

 

One category that saw falling investment was public equity issuances.

 

After a very strong first half in 2021, public market issuances for renewable energy companies dropped 65% in 1H 2022, totalling $10.5bn. The 2Q figure, at $3.9bn raised, is the lowest quarterly total since 2Q 2020. 

 

Albert Cheung, head of analysis at BloombergNEF, said: “Despite the headwinds presented by ongoing cost inflation and supply chain challenges, demand for clean energy sources has never been higher, and we expect that the global energy crisis will continue to act as an accelerant for the clean energy transition.”

 

China’s large-scale solar investments totalled $41bn in 1H 2022, up 173% from the year before and it also invested $58bn in new wind projects, up 107% year-on-year.

 

Nannan Kou, BNEF’s head of China analysis, said: “Green infrastructure is the most important investment area that China is relying on to boost its weak economy in the second half of 2022.

 

“The investment growth trend follows China’s strategy to build new renewable generation capacity so that it can replace its existing coal fleet.

 

China is well on track to hit its 1200GW wind and solar capacity target by 2030.”

 

Offshore wind saw investment rise 52% from the previous year, to $32bn.

 

Chelsea Jean-Michel, offshore wind analyst at BNEF said: “Investments in 2022 will flow into projects coming online in the next few years as the offshore wind installed base is set to grow tenfold from 53GW in 2021 to 504GW in 2035.”

Edited August 2, 2022 by notsonice

[notsonice + 1,259]

First Solar to invest $1bn to ramp US PV production

Investment will expand the company’s ability to domestically produce solar modules to over 10GW

 30 August 2022 11:06

 

 

First Solar plans to invest over $1bn in scaling production of US-made thin film solar modules, supporting the country’s energy decarbonisation efforts.

 

The investment is forecast to expand the company’s ability to produce American-made solar modules for the US solar market to over 10GW (dc) by 2025.

 

As part of its push to scale US production of solar modules, First Solar intends to build its fourth, fully vertically integrated domestic factory, with an annual capacity of 3.5GW (dc), in the US south-east.

First Solar, the only US-headquartered company among the world’s 10 largest PV manufacturers, expects to invest up to $1bn in the new factory, which, contingent upon permitting and pending approval of various federal, state, regional, and local incentives, is expected to commence operations in 2025.

 

Additionally, the company will invest $185m in upgrading and expanding its north-west Ohio manufacturing footprint, which is the largest vertically-integrated complex of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, by 900MW (dc).

 

As part of its plans, First Solar will invest in expanding the capacity of its two operating facilities in Perrysburg and Lake Township, Ohio, by 600MW (dc) to 3.6GW (dc) of annual Series 6 module capacity.

 

The company will also expand its third Ohio factory, expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2023, to 3.5GW (dc) of annual Series 7 module capacity.

 

The expansion will increase First Solar’s total investment in its Ohio manufacturing facilities to over $3bn, with a cumulative annual production capacity of over 7GW (dc) by 2025.

 

First Solar estimates that the new investment will add at least 850 new manufacturing jobs, taking its total number of direct jobs in the US to over 3000 people in four states by 2025, which is believed to make it the largest employer in the American solar manufacturing sector.

 

By 2025, First Solar is also expected to support an estimated 15,000 indirect and induced jobs as a result of its ongoing and future manufacturing operations.

 

“In passing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration has entrusted our industry with the responsibility of enabling America’s clean energy future and we must meet the moment in a manner that is both timely and sustainable,” said Mark Widmar, chief executive officer, First Solar.

 30 August 2022 11:06