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Dawn of Solar Age Declared as PV Beats All Other Forms of Power (bloomberg.com)
Solar power blossomed faster than for any other fuel for the first time in 2016, the International Energy Agency said in a report suggesting the technology will dominate renewables in the years ahead. From a report: The institution established after the first major oil crisis in 1973 said 165 gigawatts of renewables were completed last year, which was two-thirds of the net expansion in electricity supply. Solar grew by 50 percent, with almost half new plants built in China. "What we are witnessing is the birth of a new era in solar PV," Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said in a statement accompanying the report published on Wednesday in Paris. "We expect that solar PV capacity growth will be higher than any other renewable technology through 2022." This marks the sixth consecutive year that clean energy has set records for installations. Mass manufacturing and a switch by governments away from fixed payments for renewables forced down the cost of wind and solar technology. The IEA expects about 1,000 gigawatts of renewables will be installed in the next five years, a milestone that coal only accomplished after 80 years. That quantity of electricity surpasses what's consumed in China, India and Germany combined.
That's already figured into the cost. Still comes out ahead. And once we start using photovoltaic energy to make photovoltaics, we take fossil fuels out of the picture entirely.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
yeah, after 25 years it "only" has 80% of its initial rated max output. Which means you can use them for 50 years easily.
I have seen a few reports that they are lasting quite a bit longer than expected and still performing, in some cases 10 years past their estimated 20 year functional lifespan. If we have to make a lined pit in the ground and throw them all in it every 30 years, that will be fine.
They have no moving parts (unless you use trackers) and they take advantage of "free" energy that will be here as long as the earth is habitable. It is inevitable that they will take over energy production.
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In 25 years solar "panels" will be as cheap and flexible as plastic sheeting. Energy will be nearly free and we'll be struggling with who should be allowed to have children and deciding which grossly overpopulated areas need to "purged".
Gosh, if only Solar arrays were like coal, gas, and nuclear plants that require absolutely no maintenance, part replacement or waste disposal.
Oh wait.
Seriously, in 20 years, they can expand their system to cover increased demand, and if these cells fail, they can recycle the valuable metals and purchase new ones. You might as well be complaining that the sun could go out, or that the cleaner air they breathe lets them go outside so much they get skin cancer.
And nuclear plants have absolutely no expense involved in maintenance or refurbishment.
Most people have purchased solar through power purchase agreements that are typically 15 to 20 years long. At the end of that time, they can either buy the cheaper solar panels themselves or resign another PPL. Typically, the solar provider charges a set price -- today $500 -- to remove old panels. So, no. Consumers won't get sticker shock in 20 years. In fact, solar panels are becoming more efficient, so in 20 years, you'll need fewer panels to produce the same energy and they'll be cheaper to manufacture.
Actually wind and solar are over 5% of average power supply now and growing exponentially, with large double digit year-on-year percentages. And wind is already well over 10% of power in Europe.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"'I winter in Germany, solar output is almost non-existant.'
Get a brush until climate change takes care of the snow.
"Do solar panels work in the winter?
A common myth is that solar panels do not work during winter, but in contrary, the cold temperature will typically improve solar panel output. The white snow can also reflect light and help improve PV performance. Winter will only hurt solar production if the panels are covered with snow."
http://news.energysage.com/sol...
Oh, it's grimmer than that. The father was first put in jail as a young man. Gaining a felony record and never having a chance at a regular life.
Meanwhile, the white kid wasn't even stopped, and if he had been stopped, would not have been searched, have been let off with a warning, or if he had actually have been arrested would have been given a deferred sentence (because he had a bright future), and finally if he had actually been sentenced- it would have been 50% to 90% lighter than the sentence given to the black youth for the same crime.
And yes- everything I just wrote has happened to black and white kids over the last 5 years. It's STILL happening. We need equal justice. If the laws fell as harshly on white families (especially rich white families) then the laws would be changed to be less harsh.
Within the last decade, while minority mothers are going to jail for 11 years for less than a joint- willie nelson was paying a $4,000 fine and being let off for a damn bag of pot.
And it's the same story all over the country.
Black kid has a toy gun- reported as "black male brandishing a piston" police pull up and shoot him dead in literally under 2 seconds on the scene. Meanwhile a drunk white man has a loaded ak-47 and the cops spend a half a hour talking him down.
Just in the last year we had a white sheriff defending a bunch of young white rapists because he didn't want to "ruin their life".
As an older white texan who voted for reagan and bush sr, the injustice makes me sick.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
All great points, and you're right. Storage is definitely the next hurdle and one that will be difficult to overcome. But we have to start somewhere. It wasn't all that long ago when driving ~250 miles on a battery was considered impossible -- or cost prohibitive at best. It's not acceptable to just throw our collective arms in the air and keep doing what we're doing just because the numbers don't work out today. What SCE and other utilities are doing in this area is important, even if the overall impact seems insignificant right now.
Beware of the Leopard.