The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has been much in the news since it released its report Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2017. Article after article has told us that it said we could see the costs of renewable energy drop to meet those of fossil fuels by 2020.
We have seen the fall of coal. The Dow Jones Coal Index, which stood at over 723 at its high in 2008, was down over 94% to 41.36 on December 8. Just as telling, all of the companies that were its components in 2008 have disappeared. There is now only one company in the index, and it is new, cobbled together out of the wreckage of those that once were.
Experts predict that renewable energy will achieve grid parity with coal and gas power in Australia in the next few years, helping Australia meet its Paris climate change goals at no cost to consumers.
What happened in the solar & storage industries in October? A lot! Below is a concise summary of the most notable solar and energy storage stories of the month.
If President* Donald Trump thought he could count on the Forbes media empire to help protect coal and nuclear power plants, well, he was wrong. In yet another sign that nobody likes coal, on Sunday, the self-described “home page for the world’s business leaders” published a long contributor piece featuring an interview with the lead technical author of the Energy Department’s notorious grid study, and she does not mince words.
The 2018 ZFEP finalists in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), Nonprofit categories, and Global High Schools categories have just been announced.
Residential energy storage has the potential to be one key solution for effectively integrating distributed renewables into the future electricity mix. It is already seeing solid traction and offering respectable returns in some markets around the world. Hawaii and Australia, among others with their high electricity prices and vast solar resources, have become hotspots for residential energy storage.
The most popular stories of the past week here on CleanTechnica were absolutely full of news about Fiat Chrysler leadership in the electric vehicle + energy storage + solar energy market. Oh, no, whoops — it was Tesla this week, not Fiat Chrysler. Though, the legacy automaker did land high on the list with one story.
UK-based nonprofit giant Practical Action was one of this year’s Zayed Future Energy Prize winners. I got to interview Chief Executive Paul Smith Lomas and Global Energy Representative Aaron Leopold right after they won the prize. Below is my video interview with the two, as well as some written notes underneath. Enjoy!
The latest report from the IEA says that renewables are growing faster than expected and will continue to outpace all other forms of energy over the next 5 years.
