Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Solar ready to thrive without subsidy, says US Energy Secretary

The solar industry in the U.S. is primed to grow and survive even without the need for subsidy support, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has said this week.

With the price of solar having fallen dramatically over the past few years, Moniz believes that the cost of electricity from rooftop solar arrays could fall to $0.06/kWh in some U.S. states very soon – a situation that would make solar "extremely competitive" with fossil fuel-based power generation sources.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Well, not a good week for UK PV, but it's bouncing back in France, especially now that they are planning to reduce nuclear generation, and expand renewables.

France to exceed 1 GW of 2015 PV installations in major rebound

The French PV market is showing signs of strong growth, with 2015 likely to see more than 1 GW of solar added to the country’s grids. Last month it increased the size of its most recent tender for ground mounted installations from 400 to 800 MW as solar’s increasing cost competitiveness is recognized by government.

The dogmatic politically correct thinking regarding nuclear energy is gone and today one can think otherwise without being accused of crime against French national energy security. The increasing price competitiveness of PV, thanks to our good solar irradiation, the state of France’s public finances, and political pressure to see reconciliation between Socialist and the Green party, should naturally lead to a great future for solar.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Light on detail, but some (future) news for UK storage:

Panasonic to roll out home battery to Europe, starting with Germany

Japanese electronics corporation to begin selling home batteries across Europe, putting company in direct competition with Tesla, for whom it makes lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries.

Panasonic will soon launch its home storage battery in Australia following the successful roll out in its domestic market of Japan, and after Germany will introduce the system to the U.K., France and other European markets, confirmed Panasonic Europe CEO Laurent Abadie at the IFA electronics show in Berlin this week.

The Panasonic battery is a lithium-ion-based system with a storage capacity of 8 kWh, with a 2 kW output and lightweight, sleek design that makes it easy to install and an affordable addition to a typical home energy management system.

Mart.

Martyn1981

If you don't like PV, don't read this article, it'll spoil your day, week, year ......

Solar PV Is Unstoppable, And Subsidies Can Be Removed Sooner Than Thought

TBH the whole article needs reading, there are simply too many important points to highlight, so here are just a few examples:-

New report finds solar will be cheaper than wholesale electricity prices across Europe by 2030 – without the need for any technological breakthroughs. The implications for fossil fuels are obvious – and means high renewable targets might reduce the energy costs, rather than increasing them.

Solar generation costs are likely to fall below the average wholesale price of electricity across Europe by 2030, according to a new study, highlighting the potential of a solar revolution across the globe – not just in the household and commercial market, but also for utility-scale installations.

The study by the EU-sponsored European Photovoltaic Technology Platform, released this week, suggests that solar PV costs will fall by half over the next 15 years – after an 80 per cent fall over the last five years – even without any new technology breakthroughs.

This means that by 2030, the generation costs of solar PV – including grid integration costs of 2c/kWh– will be lower than the wholesale price of electricity in most of Europe. In southern European states, it already is cheaper, and by 2030 the cost of solar PV could be as low as €20-€25/MWh, depending on the cost of capital. Even in London, the cost of large-scale solar PV will be around €50/MWh – equal to the current wholesale price and way below the cost of nuclear, the current Tory government’s clean technology of choice.

The report says that the cost cuts could be so dramatic that the capacity of solar PV could grow from around 170GW now to more than 3,000GW in 2030, and to 5,700GW by 2050, displacing an enormous mount of fossil fuels – coal-fired power stations in particular.

The report tells us what we already know about rooftop solar – that it is already cheaper than retail electricity prices across most of Europe, even in those countries with little sun, such as the UK and Sweden.

What we now know is that large-scale solar is also cheaper than wholesale electricity prices in southern Europe, and will be in the rest of Europe by 2030.

“Parity with wholesale market electricity will be reached by 2030 almost everywhere. There is every reason to believe that this development will continue after 2030 because there is still a huge improvement potential in various PV technologies,” the report says.

Even in London, the cost could be below €40/MWh. To put that into context, the Hinkley nuclear plant, due to start in 2026 if financing is ever obtained, will cost €92.50/MWh and will then rise with inflation. By 2050, it will be paid more than €200/MWh for its output. By 2058, probably more than €300/MWh.

Mart.

ed110220

Martyn1981 wrote: »

If you don't like PV, don't read this article, it'll spoil your day, week, year ......

Solar PV Is Unstoppable, And Subsidies Can Be Removed Sooner Than Thought

TBH the whole article needs reading, there are simply too many important points to highlight, so here are just a few examples:-

Mart.

The sad thing is that the present government's policies will simply delay the day when solar grid parity is reached in the UK because it will come whatever they do. We'll just pay more in the long term through their idiotic decisions to discourage wind and solar and sign up for two EPR reactors when the other two in Europe are already years behind schedule and vastly over budget.

I fear their decisions are rather like ordering a fleet of ocean liners when the first passenger jets were already flying.

Ed

Martyn1981

Carmarthenshire council scraps solar rooftop plans following FiT proposals

Carmarthenshire County Council has abandoned plans to install solar panels on approximately 2,700 council homes following Department for Energy and Climate Change proposals to slash the small-scale feed-in tariff (FiT).

The council was collaborating with community renewable energy and investment group, Gen Community, to put together an installation programme which would both help those in council homes save money on their energy bills and collect FiT payments into a community fund.

Last month Doncaster Council, which previously revealed ambitious plans to install solar on the roofs of more than 6,000 council-owned homes, confirmed that a considerable cut to the feed-in tariff would impact on the project’s scale and even future.

Now that the LA's and HA's are (were) up to speed, I suspect the biggest losers from the premature ending of FiTs will be folk living in 'council houses' especially those with all electric heating.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Not sure if this is really interesting, or just a promo piece, but thought it worth posting, as it occurred to me that a replacement inverter at ~99% efficiency (v's 95%(ish)) would make up for almost all panel degradation loss if the original inverter died after 10 years or so IYSWIM.

SolarEdge claims digital processing innovation will bring ‘flat screen revolution’ to solar

SolarEdge is hoping that new processing technology in its latest range of inverters will “revolutionise” inverter design in the same way that flat screen technology superseded old-fashioned cathode ray TVs.

As an example, it presents a comparison between SolarEdge’s existing range and the new one. A device that would have previously weighed around 22kg can be pared down to weigh just 9.5kg.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Interesting comments from George Monbiot on nuclear power and Hinkley C. I think he's finally realised what most of us have been saying for years about the relative costs of nuclear and renewables:-

We are pro-nuclear, but Hinkley C must be scrapped

As committed environmentalists, our conversion to the cause of nuclear power was painful and disorienting. All of us carried a cost in changing our position, antagonising friends and alienating colleagues. But we believe that shutting down – or failing to replace – our primary source of low carbon energy during a climate emergency is a refined form of madness.

Because atomic energy provides a steady baseload of electricity, it has great potential to balance the output from renewables, aiding the total decarbonisation of the power supply. The dangers associated with nuclear power have been wildly exaggerated, all too often with the help of junk science. Climate breakdown presents a far greater hazard to human life. The same goes for the air pollution caused by burning coal.

Now, however, we are about to antagonise a different faction, by arguing that the UK’s only proposed nuclear power plant, Hinkley C in Somerset, should not be built.

Hinkley C bears all the distinguishing features of a white elephant: overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue. The delay that was announced recently should be the final straw. The government should kill the project.

So how do the operators, the French company EDF, expect Hinkley C – even if it can be built – to be economically viable? By extracting from the government a price guarantee of £92.50 per megawatt hour for the electricity it produces, index-linked for 35 years.

This is simply astronomical. It is more than twice the current wholesale price of electricity, and more than the government is now paying for solar power, whose costs are expected to fall greatly during the lifetime of the nuclear plant. Against current prices, the government’s guarantee represents a subsidy of over £1 billion a year.

Mart.

EricMears

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Interesting comments from George Monbiot on nuclear power and Hinkley C. I think he's finally realised what most of us have been saying for years about the relative costs of nuclear and renewables:-
Mart.

There's more joy in heaven when one sinner repents . . . .

Getting time MSE learnt to count. I would have stopped above but was told I had to enter at least ten characters

Martyn1981

I haven't fully got over the news yet that India has raised its PV target for 2022 from 20GWp to 100GWp ...... but they are off again, considering a revised 2030 target of 250GWp! :shocked:

India cabinet set to approve aggressive 40% renewable goal

Thank goodness the international effort to bring down the cost of PV came when it did to help India with their enormous expansion of energy generation.

Mart.