Mapping Solar Grid Parity

Date: 14 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 51 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Where does solar grid parity strike first?  How fast does it spread?  Click “animate” on the map below to see which major metropolitan areas can beat grid prices with local solar first, and how quickly unsubsidized solar could take over America’s major metropolitan areas.

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Solar Gets Cheaper, but Not Equally

Date: 13 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In January, I plotted the size of state solar markets against their average installed cost and found surprisingly little correlation.  When Lawrence Berkeley Labs put out their 2011 version of Tracking the Sun (IV), it was possible to update the chart, which I did in two stages. The first chart simply overlays the 2010 average installed … Read More

U.S. Climate Negotiator Calls for Feed-in Tariffs

Date: 7 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

From a friend at the United Nations climate meeting in Durban, South Africa:

Todd Stern, the head of the climate change negotiating team for the US Government called for Feed-in Tariff policies as key to solve the problem. Stern gave the briefing on December 7th to nearly 300 environmental group leaders in Durban, South Africa at the UN Climate Change negotiations. One of his major points was that the US and countries worldwide need to utilize the Feed-in Tariff approach in order to transform the energy production sector of society. While there was at best, luke warm, reception to his overall presentation of the US negotiating position, the crowd was impressed with his recognition of the transformative power of the German style renewable energy (Feed-in) approach. By providing investor security these policies have proven to be the fastest way to get gigawatts of good energy on line the quickest. As they say, when the house is on fire speed matters. [emphasis added]

Since feed-in tariffs are responsible for nearly two-thirds of the world’s wind power and 90 percent of the world’s solar, it’s a policy that would make sense for the American energy market.

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Federal Tax Credits Handcuff Clean Energy Development

Date: 5 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Clean energy advocates should cast aside their worries about increasing Republican scrutiny of energy subsidies.  The clean energy industry’s foolish reliance on tax incentives has already handcuffed its expansion. Unlike the leading nations in the clean energy race, the United States has no coherent energy policy.  Rather, its energy market is balkanized by 50 distinct state … Read More

American and Germany Getting Their Renewable Energy Just Desserts

Date: 2 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 3 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Germany is the unquestioned world leader in renewable energy.  By mid-2011, the European nation generated over 20 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power alone, and had created over 400,000 jobs in the industry. The sweet German success is no accident, however, and the following pie chart illustrates the results of a carefully crafted … Read More

Gainesville, Florida, Uses CLEAN Contracts (aka feed-in tariffs) to Become a World Leader in Solar

Date: 1 Dec 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

You don’t have to be big to go big on solar power.  That’s the lesson from the Gainesville Regional Utilities, the electric utility whose feed-in tariff solar policy has brought over 7 megawatts (MW) of solar to the city’s 125,000 residents.  The raw number isn’t much, but it puts Gainesville among the world leaders in solar … Read More

Democratizing the Electricity System: A Vote for Local Solar

Date: 22 Nov 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

This is a presentation by John Farrell to the MDV-SEIA Solar Energy Focus conference in Washington, DC.  In it, I discuss the transformation in the electricity system being wrought by clean energy sources, the winning economies of local solar power, how the drawbacks of solar are technically surmountable, and how public policy must change to smooth … Read More

Bigger Subsidies Make Bigger Solar a Bad Bet

Date: 18 Nov 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Americans seem unable to resist big things, and solar power plants are no exception. There may be no reasoning with an affinity for all things “super sized,” but the economics of large scale solar projects (and the unwelcome public scrutiny) should bury the notion that bigger is better for solar. In fact, smaller scale solar and … Read More

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