Solar power is finally becoming cheaper than fossil fuel

http://qz.com/871907/2016-was-the-y...cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-just-wait-for-2017/

The most important points of the article:

• Solar and wind is now the same price or cheaper than fossil fuels in more than 30 countries, the WEF (World Economic Forum) reported in December.
• The US added about 125 solar panels every minute in 2016, about double the pace last year, reports the Solar Energy Industry Association.
• The solar story is even more impressive after accounting for new distributed solar on homes and business, which pushed the total installed capacity to 11.2 GW. But global investment in renewable energy still lags far behind levels needed to avoid potentially catastrophic global warming, according to the United Nations.
• In August, energy firm Solarpack contracted to sell solar electricity in Chile at just $29.1 per megwatt hour, 58% below prices from a new natural gas plant.

The sooner we lose our dependence on fossil fuel, the better.

 

[millais]

Solar panels are cheap as fuck. The problem is that if you are in the US or EU, they have emplaced quotas and tariffs on imported Chinese solar panels in order to protect competitiveness of domestic photovoltaic industry. If they lifted the trade restrictions on Chinese imports, the Chinese would have an unbeatable monopoly on photovoltaics, but the panels themselves would be affordable to just about everybody.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Also the problem with solar is they can't adapt worth shit to power surges. There's usually a big one in the morning, followed by a lull in the afternoon, and another spike when people get off work. So when they have peak output, they have the least usage. And power storage systems (batteries) are large af, plus have your choice of toxic metals in large concentrations.

 

[ICametoLurk]

good

 

[Bagronkleton]

Neverendingmidi hit the nail on the head. Sure making photovoltaics affordable and efficient is great and all. It's pretty much a moot point when the means of storing excess energy is miles behind.

This is a putting the cart before the horse scenario. Build a better battery and everything else follows naturally.

 

[CWCchange]

Solar panels are cheap as fuck. The problem is that if you are in the US or EU, they have emplaced quotas and tariffs on imported Chinese solar panels in order to protect competitiveness of domestic photovoltaic industry. If they lifted the trade restrictions on Chinese imports, the Chinese would have an unbeatable monopoly on photovoltaics, but the panels themselves would be affordable to just about everybody.

The fossil fuel lobby makes it impossible to penetrate the domestic market, and the government tends to become involved in the wrong way with miserable failures like Solyndra. It's no wonder prices go through the roof.

If U.S. companies like General Electric, Honeywell, and United Technologies Corporation were still the engineering heavyweights that they used to be, we would have a formidable market share in the world.

 

[POWER IN MISERY]

i'd love to see the day we no longer depend on fossil fuel! too bad i'm in fucking georgia, where it will either rain for half the day or be a cloudy fucking mess no matter the season.

 

[Splendid]

We wouldn't be worrying about fucking solar panels of hippies didn't hate nuclear power.

 

[AN/ALR56]

Nuclear Will be still be more reliable tbh.
And saying "buuuut Fukushima" "Chernobyl!!11" is moot, especially since most of western reactors are much more safer than those.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

i'd love to see the day we no longer depend on fossil fuel! too bad i'm in fucking georgia, where it will either rain for half the day or be a cloudy fucking mess no matter the season.

Move a state to the left. It only really seems to rain a lot during winter.

 

[Joan Nyan]

But can we actually produce nearly as much energy with solar as we currently use with fossil fuels?

 

[Male Idiot]

Nuclear Will be still be more reliable tbh.
And saying "buuuut Fukushima" "Chernobyl!!11" is moot, especially since most of western reactors are much more safer than those.

This. We just need to keep the nuclear going until we can do fusion.

Also the problem with solar is they can't adapt worth shit to power surges. There's usually a big one in the morning, followed by a lull in the afternoon, and another spike when people get off work. So when they have peak output, they have the least usage. And power storage systems (batteries) are large af, plus have your choice of toxic metals in large concentrations.

And this. Let us check out the renewable energy sources.

Solar. This requires the sun to shine. Cloudy days, or you know, nights, tend to make this unviable when you need electricity all the time.

Wind. Same as solar. The wind does not always blows, and not all countries are windy.

Water. This one is the only renewable energy that is capable of working most of the time. The downside is that it can wreck the river's ecosystem and make any river traffic impossible. Oh and you need the good geographical conditions for it.

So fuck all hippies, nuclear is still the best by miles.

 

[The Great Chandler]

One of the only best places for both solar and wind power are deserts like Mojave Desert. They have many sunny days and many windy days.

Spoiler: 2big4u

http://sneed.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/2016/01/07/0107mojavedesert01.jpg

 

[Electric Eye]

To people saying nuclear would be the best option: you're right, but the hippies are only partially to blame. The other issue is how expensive nuclear is.

 

[Pikimon]

i'd love to see the day we no longer depend on fossil fuel! too bad i'm in fucking georgia, where it will either rain for half the day or be a cloudy fucking mess no matter the season.

Germany has more solar power than the USA and receives less sunshine than Washington State and the Northeast.

It can be done

 

[CWCchange]

Nuclear Will be still be more reliable tbh.
And saying "buuuut Fukushima" "Chernobyl!!11" is moot, especially since most of western reactors are much more safer than those.

buuuut Three Mile Island!!11

Chernobyl was shit to begin with because it operated completely exposed, and would have had long-term negative health effects on the population anyway. Fukushima was contained for the most part, but the media blew it completely out of proportion to the point that more deaths will occur from anxiety than radiation.

 

[Male Idiot]

To people saying nuclear would be the best option: you're right, but the hippies are only partially to blame. The other issue is how expensive nuclear is.

Is it more expensive than working out how to store solar power for rainy days, and well, nights?

 

[Pickle Inspector]

To people saying nuclear would be the best option: you're right, but the hippies are only partially to blame. The other issue is how expensive nuclear is.

It's a NIMBY issue as well as in "Nuclear power plants are fine as long as they aren't built anywhere near where I live".

 

[The Lawgiver]

I can't wait for the inevitable swarms of spontaneously combusting birds and rampant nightly power outages!
THE FUTURE IS NOW!

 

[Electric Eye]

Is it more expensive than working out how to store solar power for rainy days, and well, nights?

Thus far? Yes. But that's why we need to invest more into research for nuclear power. At some point, it should be cheaper, safer, and less expensive than anything else with the right amount of research and thought put into it.

And yeah, this:

It's a NIMBY issue as well as in "Nuclear power plants are fine as long as they aren't built anywhere near where I live".

Also plays into how expensive it is. That and not every country has a good place for nuclear waste disposal like the US and Russia do.