<story><title>Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air (Revised, Community Edition)</title><url>https://climate.lifeitself.us/without-hot-air/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>credit_guy</author><text>&amp;gt;  Utility scale solar PV [...] is now the cheapest form of new energy to deploy.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been hearing this claim for a few years now, and I took it at face value, until a few days ago. I was having a discussion with a friend and told him that PV&amp;#x27;s share of electricity generation must by quite high, and then I checked the EIA website [1], and it turns out only 2.3% of the electricity comes from PV, while about 40% come from gas and 20% from coal.&lt;p&gt;Something does not add up. If PV is so cheap, why don&amp;#x27;t we see more electricity being produced by PV?&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eia.gov&amp;#x2F;tools&amp;#x2F;faqs&amp;#x2F;faq.php?id=427&amp;amp;t=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eia.gov&amp;#x2F;tools&amp;#x2F;faqs&amp;#x2F;faq.php?id=427&amp;amp;t=3&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>mcot2</author><text>It sounds like this should have a date attached to it as the numbers are quite outdated for todays world. This did have some good data for back when it was written of course.&lt;p&gt;* An efficient EV will do less than 12kWh&amp;#x2F;100km these days.&lt;p&gt;* Utility scale solar pv cost declines have been dramatic.  It is now the cheapest form of new energy to deploy.&lt;p&gt;* Developments in deep water off-shore wind have led to much larger turbines which are capturing more wind energy for longer periods of time.&lt;p&gt;* Large scale batteries are now viable as a storage mechanism for renewables and are going to rapidly replace things like peaker plants.&lt;p&gt;* Lots of new research is happening with Nuclear like thorium&amp;#x2F;molten-salt reactors which will still be important for baseload generation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ghouse</author><text>Only recently did PV becomes the least-cost source of new electric generation.[0] And new utility-scale projects take 2-7 years to develop. For example, TX is anticipated to add 10 GW of new solar generation in 2022.[1]  As I write this (while the sun is up, noon in TX), the current demand in TX is 38 GW.[2]&lt;p&gt;Source: Have been developing solar power plants since 2008.&lt;p&gt;[0] The tipping point for solar is different in different regions based on many factors, but primarily the amount of annual sunlight and the cost of fuel on the margin, and regulatory policy.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;environment&amp;#x2F;texas-track-add-record-solar-power-capacity-by-end-2022-2021-04-21&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;environment&amp;#x2F;texas-track-add...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ercot.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ercot.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air (Revised, Community Edition)</title><url>https://climate.lifeitself.us/without-hot-air/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>credit_guy</author><text>&amp;gt;  Utility scale solar PV [...] is now the cheapest form of new energy to deploy.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been hearing this claim for a few years now, and I took it at face value, until a few days ago. I was having a discussion with a friend and told him that PV&amp;#x27;s share of electricity generation must by quite high, and then I checked the EIA website [1], and it turns out only 2.3% of the electricity comes from PV, while about 40% come from gas and 20% from coal.&lt;p&gt;Something does not add up. If PV is so cheap, why don&amp;#x27;t we see more electricity being produced by PV?&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eia.gov&amp;#x2F;tools&amp;#x2F;faqs&amp;#x2F;faq.php?id=427&amp;amp;t=3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eia.gov&amp;#x2F;tools&amp;#x2F;faqs&amp;#x2F;faq.php?id=427&amp;amp;t=3&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>mcot2</author><text>It sounds like this should have a date attached to it as the numbers are quite outdated for todays world. This did have some good data for back when it was written of course.&lt;p&gt;* An efficient EV will do less than 12kWh&amp;#x2F;100km these days.&lt;p&gt;* Utility scale solar pv cost declines have been dramatic.  It is now the cheapest form of new energy to deploy.&lt;p&gt;* Developments in deep water off-shore wind have led to much larger turbines which are capturing more wind energy for longer periods of time.&lt;p&gt;* Large scale batteries are now viable as a storage mechanism for renewables and are going to rapidly replace things like peaker plants.&lt;p&gt;* Lots of new research is happening with Nuclear like thorium&amp;#x2F;molten-salt reactors which will still be important for baseload generation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wcoenen</author><text>Wind was cheaper. The levellized cost of electricity from solar has only recently dropped below that of wind. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Cost_of_electricity_by_source&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Cost_of_electricity_by_source&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>