Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Rapid growth in solar capacity and generation in Texas, (a state with excellent wind generation too). This year could see ~50% growth in solar, and will hopefully overtake coal generation within the state.

The article also mentions that in 2025 wind + solar should overtake gas generation in the state.

Looks like the falling cost of solar is leading to a massive acceleration in deployment around the World, which leads to greater production, and falling costs, leading to ....... and so on, and so on.

Texas Shatters Own Solar Power Record, Weird Political Situation Or Not

Texas burst out in front of the wind power pack in the early 2000’s never to look back. An assist from state officials who approved a major new transmission network helped to kick the wind industry into high gear.

“In 2022, Texas generated 26% of all U.S. wind-sourced electricity, leading the nation for the 17th year in a row,” the US Energy Information Agency noted in its latest update.

“Wind power surpassed the state’s nuclear generation for the first time in 2014 and exceeded coal-fired generation for the first time in 2020,” they added.

“The sharp increase was highlighted by three solar records during the month. The first occurred Jan. 16 at the height of a strong winter cold snap. Output climbed to 14,837 megawatts (MW), accounting for 23% of total system demand. The second two records were set on Jan. 28, when solar hit new highs both for generation at 15,222 MW and for market share at 36.1%,” Wamsted observed.

“Those records were short-lived, as solar generation smashed through 16,000 MW on Feb. 13, topping 16,500 MW for an hour in the morning. At that point, and for some 7.5 hours during the day, solar provided more than 30% of the system’s power needs,” Wamsted added.

Coastalwatch

Don't know if BNEF have been taking a leaf out of Tony Seba's book but the forecasts suggested below do seem adventurous. Admittedly not exponential growth but seemingly sufficient to surpass their own Net Zero scenario and ahead of time.

Time will undoubtedly tell but encouraging to learn of the possibility in the meantime.

could hit 574 GW this year

BloombergNEF says in a new report that developers deployed 444 GW of new PV capacity throughout the world in 2023. It says new installations could reach 574 GW this year, 627 GW in 2025, and 880 GW in 2030.

“The challenge in making forecasts is that if you keep predicting growth at current rates, you end up forecasting the entire world being covered with solar panels,” Jenny Chase, a solar analyst at BloombergNEF, told pv magazine. “Our 2030 forecast is already over 6.7 TW, well above BNEF's Net Zero Scenario and relatively comparable with global power generation capacity of 8.5 TW at the end of 2022.”

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/02/20/bloombergnef-says-global-pv-installations-could-hit-574-gw-this-year/?utm_source=Global+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=579de96357-dailynl_gl&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6916ce32b6-579de96357-159300013