June 30th, 2020 | by Carolyn Fortuna
New research from Berkeley Lab outlines how the useful life and operating expenses of utility-scale photovoltaic plants have leveled
June 14th, 2020 | by Brad Rouse
We are making great progress, with costs of solar, wind, and batteries continuing their decline. But we are not moving fast enough to turn the tide on human-caused climate change. One study I saw recently said we need to be installing wind and solar at triple the current rate to get to 90% renewable just for electricity by
June 7th, 2020 | by Cynthia Shahan
A bifacial solar panel is a solar panel that can collect energy from the front side and the rear side (a normal monofacial panel only collects energy from one side). Bifacial solar technology was created in the latter 1960s. It was dormant while the broader PV market exploded. It was too costly for the incremental energy production improvements
May 25th, 2020 | by Cynthia Shahan
Some days if feels like things aren't made to last. Cell phone replacements, for one — how many does one have to have? Wind turbines, however, show a refined aging that suffers little efficiency loss over time
January 5th, 2020 | by Guest Contributor
The utility-scale solar sector has led the overall U.S. solar market in terms of installed capacity since 2012. In 2018, the utility-scale sector accounted for nearly 60% of all new solar capacity, and is expected to maintain its market-leading position for at least another six years
November 22nd, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
A brief decade held considerable cost-efficiency gains in wind and solar. These sustainable technologies are now more cost-effective than any other power generation technologies in general, according to Lazard. Solar and wind technologies simply make more sense
August 18th, 2019 | by Scott Cooney
We need clean energy, and we need it ASAP. There are barriers to getting it done, including permitting, price, land-use issues, energy-water nexus issues, lobbying efforts by the fossil industries and the puppets they install in our government, and more. Capital projects can take years to develop as a result of these obstacles
July 30th, 2019 | by Joshua S Hill
India and Australia are expected to lead a regional shift in power generation costs over the next few years, which will see renewable energy sources become cost competitive and cheaper than fossil fuels in the next few years, according to new figures published over the weekend by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables
June 4th, 2019 | by Smiti
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has reported that energy generation and installation costs of concentrated solar power (CSP) projects fell sharply in 2018, down more than 40% from
May 1st, 2019 | by Joshua S Hill
Measuring generation capacity of a solar or wind farm, for instance, is relatively simple --- you can refer to its base figure or its peak figure (which is why you sometimes see MW or GW followed by a "p"). However, the same cannot be said for energy storage, as base capacity is, while a valuable figure, not the most valuable figure. Unsurprisingly, the figure people want to know for energy storage projects is how long it can provide power --- which is where megawatt- or gigawatt-hours (MWh/GWh) come in; how many megawatt-hours can your new energy storage provide
April 16th, 2019 | by Steve Hanley
After more than 4 years of research, scientists at LUT and Energy Watch Group say the world could reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050. All we need is the will to make the transition happen.
March 29th, 2019 | by Steve Hanley
Tesla has completed the installation of 42 Powerpack batteries for Kintetsu Raiways in Osaka, Japan. The 4.2 MW/7 MWh system will provide enough electricity to operate stalled trains for up to 30 minutes in the event of a power outage.
March 28th, 2019 | by Joshua S Hill
The Levelized Cost of Electricity of lithium-ion batteries and offshore wind have plummeted in the last year, according to new figures from research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
January 9th, 2019 | by Joshua S Hill
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Aalborg University in Denmark announced a partnership last month to lead the new i4Offshore research and development project, which will focus on significantly reducing the cost of offshore wind power through demonstrating and testing new technologies.
November 21st, 2018 | by Joshua S Hill
New analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance has determined that falling technology costs have allowed unsubsidized solar and onshore wind to become the cheapest source of new bulk power in all major economies except Japan
November 18th, 2018 | by Guest Contributor
There is a very short window of time to get out of pure-play oil & gas company investments without substantial losses. It is imperative to sell them now. It is already too late to get out of pure-play coal company investments without substantial losses. But they will lose even more money going forward
November 12th, 2018 | by George Harvey
We have a reason to cheer! Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis – Version 12.0 has been released. There are times that I love numbers. And these are great numbers
March 29th, 2018 | by Joshua S Hill
A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows that continued cost reductions for renewable energy sources like wind and solar and new technologies like batteries are continuing to squeeze out the traditional role that has been played by fossil fuel energy sources.
January 15th, 2018 | by George Harvey
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
November 7th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Lazard is a global asset management company that tracks the cost of producing electricity, among other things. It uses a measure called the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which averages the estimated costs of construction, maintenance, and fuel for electricity generating assets over the number of megawatt-hours that each is expected to produce over its lifetime. In simple terms, it is one way of comparing different ways of making electricity to see which cost more and which cost less
