NextEra: solar and wind plus batteries will be “massively disruptive” to conventional generation
The power giant says that coal, gas and nukes will not be able to compete with clean energy, and that renewable energy deployment is “just getting started”.
From the editor: EIA versus the future
EIA’s long-term projections remain stubbornly immune to reality. And the biggest problem is the potential collapse of civilization if we extract and burn anywhere near as much coal, gas and oil as the agency forecasts.
#Solar100’s Jenny Chase: Speaker of unpopular solar opinions
In this #Solar100 interview, Richard Matsui, Founder and CEO of kWh Analytics, speaks with Jenny Chase, veteran solar analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Floating PV technical potential is 10% of U.S. generation
While a national lab report on floating PV did not estimate its economic potential, the report suggests the most promising markets could be reservoirs in areas with high land costs for ground-mounted solar, and reservoirs with grid-connected hydropower or high evaporation rates.
Soft costs of solar: The final frontier of utility LCOE reduction?
In this op-ed for pv magazine, KiloNewton Founder and CEO John Williamson looks at both the importance of reducing soft costs and the likely paths to get there.
How gold-plating the grid blocks solar: an interview with Vote Solar’s Ed Smeloff
Unnecessary grid investments raise costs for all customers, displace solar and distributed solutions, and could be unfairly charged to solar customers. Vote Solar’s director of grid integration Ed Smeloff shares his insights in this pv magazine interview.
All I want for Christmas is a 90% efficient solar panel
NovaSolix hopes to use carbon nanotubes to capture a broader portion of the sun’s electromagnetic spectrum, a process they hope will yield a 90% efficient solar cell at a tenth of the cost of modern solar modules.
Renewables reduced wholesale power costs by $5.7 billion in Texas
A recent report puts numbers to the power of wind and solar to reduce wholesale prices in ERCOT. And there is a lot more coming.
BNEF: U.S. module prices seeing “aggressive” reductions
The analytics firm expects the price of mono-PERC modules to fall to $0.37 per watt by the end of the year, despite the 30% Section 201 tariffs.
Module prices have fallen by up to 25% so far this year
According to a Q3 report by EnergyTrend, monocrystalline module prices have fallen almost 20% this year, while those for polycrystalline modules have dropped by more than 25%. Increased consolidation among manufacturers and developers is expected to occur in China, and the global solar market, with more merger deals, plans for capacity reductions, and even factory closures.
