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Coal does not compete against renewables, it competes against combined cycle natural gas plants. According to the 2016 report, it's tax credits that brings sol
by rgbrenner 10y ago
Coal does not compete against renewables, it competes against combined cycle natural gas plants.
According to the 2016 report, it's tax credits that brings solar PV within 5% of combined cycle plants. Without the credits it's 33% more expensive. (And this is for plants entering service in 2022.)
- toomuchtodo 10y agoMaybe I'm missing your argument? I'm arguing moving to natural gas is a win regardless, even if it takes longer for the cost of solar to come down.
- rgbrenner 10y agomaybe (although I'm not really disagreeing with you). I'm more worried about continuing the increase of solar and other renewables. I understand nat gas may be better and a temporary win... but I think the future should be renewables, and I'm concerned about policy changes that could damage and set back progress with solar, etc. If solar is only competitive because of tax credits, then solar companies may have significant losses if those credits are discontinued.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoI'm just as dismayed as you, and already researching damage control. I have a CPA investigating how to use the ITC tax code to partner those with a tax liability to solar projects. You would estimate your tax liability, make a payment to the solar project, and their tax credit would then flow back to you when you file your taxes; whatever dollars you would've sent to the US government, you end up sending to a solar project instead. If its doable, I'm putting a Django site together and starting to market it. The best renewable is the one that gets installed as soon as possible.