Every 3 weeks, as much solar is installed now in the US as in all of 2008. As Amory Lovins puts it, solar cells are now scaling faster than cell phones. A report by Deutsche Bank released last week estimates that solar energy will dominate the world energy market within 15 years. 100% solar is now cheaper than fossil fuel electricity in MA.
Learn how you can be part of the energy transition that is putting dirty fossil energy out of business, at the Newton Solar Workshop tomorrow at noon, at the First Unitarian Society in West Newton.
Nathan – Thanks for sharing the good news on solar’s progress in the US. Also for letting our community know about the solar workshop generously hosted by the First Unitarian faith community this Sunday at noon in the church’s Alliance room in the church building on 1326 Washington Street in West Newton. Thank you from the whole Newton Solar Challenge team!
And, if you can’t make it this weekend, there will be another workshop held at The Village Bank in West Newton, Saturday, March 21st at 1:00. Lots of great information is presented at these workshops, so come and listen, and learn the benefits of going solar.
The solar industry is gobbling up undeveloped land in Massachusetts for “solar farms.” I’ve sold two large properties to solar operators in the last four months. It’s a highly competitive business. Most solar companies offer landowners the option of selling the property outright, or leasing it at very lucrative terms. I’ve opted to sell in both cases, which tells you something about my confidence [or lack thereof] in the industry’s long-term prospects. Solar seems like a wonderful technology for individual homeowners, but in this part of the country I expect it to be a giant flop on a commercial level. And I hope I’m around 15 years from now, because I’ll eat my hat if Deutsch Bank’s projection comes true. I do think we’re in for a major change in energy source, but my money’s on hydrogen fuel cells.
Mike, It’s a bet, and I’ll even be kind enough as to bring the hat: http://24.media.tumblr.com/49fd3eeb5243d7d60470ab0c68ae5d07/tumblr_mqi28rnqmd1qc7bnqo1_500.gif
PS: I agree with you on the hydrogen economy, but you still need an energy source to produce the hydrogen. Right now it’s largely from natural gas, but solar and wind can do it too, and as they grow, will increasingly do so.
Nathan,
is your quote: “100% solar is cheaper than fossil fuel electricity in MA” because it’s subsidized? How does solar compete at par? It may not sell as well but there should be some transparency here. We all pay to bring down the solar prices.
Terry, solar does benefit from two principal subsidies in MA: solar renewable energy certificates issued by the state, where solar energy generators get paid for generating, and a provision for net metering, wherein owners can sell excess electricity generated back to the utilities at retail rates.
However, its important to also recognize that fossil fuels enjoy a much greater subsidy than renewables:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-12/fossil-fuels-with-550-billion-in-subsidy-hurt-renewables
If one considers the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which is an apples-to-apples comparison of energy generation that accounts for subsidies, it’s clear that the price of solar and wind (particularly on-shore wind) are increasingly at or beyond grid parity with fossil fuel based energy costs, and on a steep trajectory toward even lower prices based on the economies of scale, compared to fossil fuel exploration (which is now pretty much fully restricted to seeking unconventional reserves that cost more money to extract). ( http://grist.org/climate-energy/renewable-energy-is-getting-cheaper-and-cheaper-in-6-charts/) Unless one believes that somehow unconventional fossil fuel exploration is going to get cheaper, and that the economies of scale for solar and wind will somehow reverse (unlikely based on market forces, but under attack by political forces), the future looks much better for renewables than fossil energy.