solar energy prices

You are currently browsing articles tagged solar energy prices.

Encina

Toledo tree (image by J. Lozano, CC 2.0 licensed)

According to John Lushetsky, program manager of the U.S., it's a very big project:

To go from the 1 gigawatt of generation capacity that we have now [in the United States] to the 170 to 200 gigawatts called for by 2030 amounts to a 26 percent compounded annual growth rate over the next 20 years. That's a higher sustained growth rate than any industry has ever been asked to do before

This was at a presentation Lushetsky gave in Toledo Ohio two weeks ago, as part of a day-long conference on "Empowering Solar Energy in Ohio."

  • Share/Bookmark
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

Yesterday the New York Times published an interview (including some of the original audio) with our new Energy Secretary, Steven Chu. Among other comments, he said that to address the climate emergency, we need "Nobel-level breakthroughs" in several key areas - batteries, biofuels, and solar photovoltaics." As an illustration, he pointed out:

The photovoltaics we have today, ... without subsidy, and without even the additional cost of storage, it's about a factor of five higher than electricity generation by gas or coal. Suppose someone comes along and invents a way of getting ... solar photovoltaics at one fifth the cost, so you don't even think about subsidies anymore. You just slap it everywhere... That, in my opinion, would take something, which I would say, is a bit of a breakthrough."

  • Share/Bookmark
On 140 acres of unused land on Nellis Air Forc...Image via Wikipedia

Harry Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and Founding Director of the Beckman Institute at CalTech, spoke at the American Chemical Society annual meeting in April of this year.

Expert Foresees 10 More Years Of Research & Development To Make Solar Energy Competitive

Gray emphasized this point: "The pressure is on chemists to make hydrogen from something other than natural gas or coal. We've got to start making it from sunlight and water."

Enhanced by Zemanta
  • Share/Bookmark

According to this analysis from Clean Edge, (which I saw originally in the San Jose Mercury News, Solar energy cost may rival other forms soon, study says - SiliconValley.com):

Solar energy will cost the same as power produced by coal, natural gas and nuclear plants in about a decade, a report released Tuesday suggests. By then, the price parity could propel solar adoption so that it accounts for 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation by 2025

  • Share/Bookmark