In a First, Renewable Energy Is Poised to Eclipse Coal in U.S.

[PcflEZFlng]

We put solar on our rooftop almost exactly five years ago - this month happens to be our true-up month - and we are also net generators of power. A lot of people here have rooftop solar because it pencils out well here in sunny, high-energy-cost San Diego.

 

[eschjw]

GM to power Tennessee manufacturing plant with solar power only | Chattanooga Times Free Press

General Motors plans to power its Tennessee manufacturing plant entirely from the sun by late 2022 under an an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to acquire solar power from one of TVA's first utility-owned solar farms.

www.timesfreepress.com

 

[dioxide45]

Isn't "renewable" only eclipsing coal because coal is being replaced with natural gas?

It will be impressive if renewable eclipses fossil, which will likely never happen. Not likely in my lifetime. We need fossil fuels to support the "renewable" energy industry. Nothing is really completely renewable. We can run out of quartz to make solar panels, or run out of the oil to make the fuel that powers the machines that mine the quartz. Run out of the fossil fuel to melt the quartz. They could run out of the iron to make the windmills.

 

[tompalm]

Be interesting to see what is the actual cost of renewables minus subsidies and tax breaks. I believe they are about to expire.

I don’t have a dog in this fight. Although after my dad took me into a small coal mine in Kentucky one time when I was a young teenager, his advice about going to engineering school made a LOT of sense.

Cheers

In 2012 I was a consultant for PV and did a study for a church School that was not able to get tax credits. The break even period in those days was 10 years. The cost per kWh was 11 cents a Kwh when you spread the cost out over a 25 year period. In Hawaii, the cost of electric is 30-36 cents a Kwh, so it is very cost affective and the cost for a system has gone down a lot since 2012. Hawaii has solar farms on all the islands and getting 16 more in the next year. HECO, the power company contracts out the work to large companies and buys the power for a reduced rates (guess about 15 cents) and sells it for around 33 cents per kWh. The cost is a lot cheaper in the mainland and solar farms are going up everywhere. Enphase stock is up 300-400 percent in the last 18 months. Lots of money being saved and made.

 

[MrockStar]

Isn't "renewable" only eclipsing coal because coal is being replaced with natural gas?

It will be impressive if renewable eclipses fossil, which will likely never happen. Not likely in my lifetime. We need fossil fuels to support the "renewable" energy industry. Nothing is really completely renewable. We can run out of quartz to make solar panels, or run out of the oil to make the fuel that powers the machines that mine the quartz. Run out of the fossil fuel to melt the quartz. They could run out of the iron to make the windmills.

We luckly have 100's of years of coal left that where not using much of.