3 ms·

On shore wind has the lowest LCOE (even excluding subsidies) of any utility scale type of energy; significantly lower than coal, and a bit lower than solar or n

• ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  This has been true since about 2015 (if you include pollution externalities) but solar is on track to move ahead about now. The more important thing is that both are below fossil fuel alternatives, and can complement each other. The exact blend depends on the location of course, but any sensible grid will likely include both of them (and mixes of distributed solar, onshore, offshore wind). Generally solar and wind should be about 80% of the generation mix, and the precise balance (after including the cost difference over the next few decades) globally leans towards solar being the dominant of the two in most plans and predictions. edit: this has now made me wonder if anyone calculates the LCOE of 'optimal' solar/wind mix for the region.
  • singhrac 4y ago
    Mixes are great. I think people are underestimating the ability of batteries, though. With the new 30% ITC in batteries (and rapidly declining costs), expect to see a lot of new utility-scale batteries over the coming years. We could see 100% of the generation come from solar if we have reliable battery storage; in many areas the bottleneck on getting solar installed is cannibalization risk and interconnection times (i.e. transmission lines / transformer access), not economics. Batteries are what get us from 20% generation (during peak daylight hours) to 95-100%.