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Isn't renewable energy generally cheaper than coal at this point?[1]. You're right, that we have done the work to research, develop, and manufacture renewable e
by dahfizz 6y ago
Isn't renewable energy generally cheaper than coal at this point?[1]. You're right, that we have done the work to research, develop, and manufacture renewable energy sources. Now all the rest of the world just has to buy the thing that is cheaper.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
- jdmichal 6y agoYes, renewable is cheap, but also unreliable. And storage to manage that unreliability is, per your link, more expensive than the corresponding fossil fuel plants. It's either that or drastically over-provision the renewables, which then has to be factored into the cost. Right now, the cheapest approach from scratch could maybe consist of: 1. Over-provisioned renewables, 2. connected to a large-area grid to mitigate local-scale negative impacts to renewable productivity, 3. with enough fossil fuel capacity to basically serve as "storage" and bridge large-scale negative impacts to renewable productivity. But, of course, China is not building from scratch -- they've been at this for decades. And the inversion of prices between renewables and fossil fuels is a fairly recent one.