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That seems amazingly cheap! Are we really down to that low level of cost?

by jahnu 3y ago

sp332 3y ago
Grid-scale solar is $33/MWh (+) https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/utility-scale-solar-2022-edition https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/utility-scale-solar-2022-ed... and the Netherlands uses 1,000,000,000 MWh/year https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/netherlands https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/netherlands so it's only off by a factor of ~2. (+) These numbers are for the USA. I found a mention of a cheaper project in Chile https://about.bnef.com/blog/cost-of-new-renewables-temporarily-rises-as-inflation-starts-to-bite/ https://about.bnef.com/blog/cost-of-new-renewables-temporari... but I don't know what the situation is in Europe. And wind might be even lower.
- aeyes 3y ago
  Chile is an outlier, the plants are in remote locations in the Atacama desert where you have two compelling reasons to build solar plants: There is a lot of space where nobody lives and the sun is always shining. There are mountains but there are also lots of places which are flat for as far as the eye can see, an example would be the Cerro Dominador plant which probably didn't require any ground preparation. On http://generadoras.cl/tipos-energia/energia-solar http://generadoras.cl/tipos-energia/energia-solar scroll down to "Capacidad por región", Antofagasta and Atacama are the desert regions in the with over 90% of installed capacity. In Germany or the Netherlands it is a bit harder to find space for large solar plants.
  - pfdietz 3y ago
    Chile is cheaper, and in a solar-powered world energy intensive industries will move to such places. If (say) Sweden wants to try to preserve industries by building nuclear power plants, they'll find the expensive power from nukes competing against the dirt cheap power from Chilean (or Namibian, or Australian, or Saudi Arabian) solar.
    - worik 3y ago
      > in a solar-powered world energy intensive industries will move to such places. And to windy places. Happening already in Europe, building new industrial plant close to the huge and fast growing offshore North Sea wind power plants
t0mas88 3y ago
1 euro per kW of capacity isn't that low, residential systems can get below that and it includes installation cost and an inverter which would both scale better for a bigger system.

That seems amazingly cheap! Are we really down to that low level of cost?

by jahnu 3y ago

That seems amazingly cheap! Are we really down to that low level of cost?

Grid-scale solar is $33/MWh (+) https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/utility-scale-solar-2022-edition https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/utility-scale-solar-2022-ed... and the Netherlands uses 1,000,000,000 MWh/year https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/netherlands https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/netherlands so it's only off by a factor of ~2. (+) These numbers are for the USA. I found a mention of a cheaper project in Chile https://about.bnef.com/blog/cost-of-new-renewables-temporarily-rises-as-inflation-starts-to-bite/ https://about.bnef.com/blog/cost-of-new-renewables-temporari... but I don't know what the situation is in Europe. And wind might be even lower.

aeyes 3y ago
Chile is an outlier, the plants are in remote locations in the Atacama desert where you have two compelling reasons to build solar plants: There is a lot of space where nobody lives and the sun is always shining. There are mountains but there are also lots of places which are flat for as far as the eye can see, an example would be the Cerro Dominador plant which probably didn't require any ground preparation. On http://generadoras.cl/tipos-energia/energia-solar http://generadoras.cl/tipos-energia/energia-solar scroll down to "Capacidad por región", Antofagasta and Atacama are the desert regions in the with over 90% of installed capacity. In Germany or the Netherlands it is a bit harder to find space for large solar plants.
- pfdietz 3y ago
  Chile is cheaper, and in a solar-powered world energy intensive industries will move to such places. If (say) Sweden wants to try to preserve industries by building nuclear power plants, they'll find the expensive power from nukes competing against the dirt cheap power from Chilean (or Namibian, or Australian, or Saudi Arabian) solar.
  - worik 3y ago
    > in a solar-powered world energy intensive industries will move to such places. And to windy places. Happening already in Europe, building new industrial plant close to the huge and fast growing offshore North Sea wind power plants

t0mas88 3y ago

1 euro per kW of capacity isn't that low, residential systems can get below that and it includes installation cost and an inverter which would both scale better for a bigger system.