Originally published on RenewEconomy (Editor’s note: This is part of a series of interviews and stories that will run over the next few weeks looking at Germany’s Energiewende, and the transition of Germany’s energy grid to one dominated by renewable energy. You can find them all in our Insight section). Solar PV at 2c/kW … [continued]
Germany is racing past 20% renewable energy on its electricity grid, but news stories stridently warn that this new wind and solar power is costing “billions.” But often left out (or buried far from the lede) is the overwhelming popularity of the country’s relentless focus on energy change (energiewende). How can … [continued]
Quick question. Your state has good sunshine, lots of open rooftops, and the cost of solar energy has been falling by 10% per year. Do you think it will take 13 years to double the 10 megawatts (MW) of installed solar power? Yes, if you’re the largest corporate utility … [continued]
In a new report on U.S. CLEAN (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now) programs, I provide a comparison of solar CLEAN Contract (feed-in tariff) rates across the United States. Comparing published rates is not particularly helpful, however, because contract lengths vary (from 15 to 25 years) and the solar resource … [continued]
You don’t have to be big to go big on solar power. That’s the lesson from the Gainesville Regional Utilities, the electric utility whose feed-in tariff solar policy has brought over 7 megawatts (MW) of solar to the city’s 125,000 residents. The raw number isn’t much, but it puts Gainesville among the world leaders in solar installed per capita, beating out Japan, France, and China (and besting California, with 32 kilowatts -kW- per 1000 residents). […]
The U.S. has a hodge-podge of utility, state and federal tax-based incentives. The Germans have a comprehensive feed-in tariff, providing CLEAN contracts (in the U.S. parlance) to anyone who wants to go solar (or wind, or biogas, etc). What does that mean for the price of solar?
A serialized version of ILSR’s new report, Democratizing the Electricity System, Part 2 of 5.
It is not the world record for ALL solar cells, but for solar cells using certain cheap and highly available materials, IBM has just set a new world record. The world record is for solar cells composed of copper, tin, zinc, sulfur, selenium, or similar materials. The new record is … [continued]
