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Clean energy
Published in November 15, 2020 |
by Zachary Shahan
November 15, 2020 by Zachary shahan
We recently saw the International Energy Agency (IEA) report that solar energy offers the cheapest electricity ever. That was a global report. A Lazard report focused on the United States recently reported something similar. Highly regarded energy analysts have shown that wind and solar power offer the cheapest electricity in the country, even significantly reducing natural gas combined cycle power plants now. But that’s only half.
Solar and wind power are cheaper, much cheaper
Historically, when we write about such reports, we, and the analysts we reference, compare the estimated electricity costs of new power plants. However, for at least some of these reports, Lazard has included the average cost of electricity from existing power plants, only operating costs (the brown diamonds in the chart below). The latest report shows that new wind and solar power plants can even provide electricity at a cheaper price than existing, in operation natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants! This is where things get interesting.
We’re at kind of a crossover point right now, but if solar and wind power continue to drop in cost while the others stay the same or become more expensive, there will be great pressure to withdraw nuclear and fossil power plants early and scale wind and solar energy production even faster. Why pay more for electricity from dirty old power plants when you can get cheaper with new, clean and green electricity?
Graphic courtesy of Lazard.
(Side notes: light blue diamond is for offshore wind power, green diamond captures price with 20% green hydrogen used in natural gas combined cycle power plant, and dark blue diamond captures price with 20% “blue hydrogen” used in the natural gas combined cycle plant.)
Here’s another graph looking at the electricity costs of new wind and solar power plants versus the marginal costs of existing nuclear and fossil power plants:
Graphic courtesy of Lazard.
Not bad.
Much more is available in the Lazard report that examines the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), also known as the average cost of producing electricity from a power plant over an estimated plant life, or 20 years. , including shorter comparisons in several other nations. The short story, however, is that solar and wind power are much cheaper basically everywhere.
Feeding the world with 100% renewable energy
Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University and Mark A. Delucchi, affiliated with UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have been telling us for many years that wind, water, and solar energy can power the world. , and they should feed the world. In a report published in late December 2019, they and several other researchers published a very detailed plan of how 143 different countries could get energy from these renewable energy sources, including a detailed analysis of what is needed and what is expected. that is available throughout the day. on every day of the year.
Graphics courtesy of Jacobson et al.
The researchers call these analyzes “energy roadmaps for all sectors of the Green New Deal.” They look at the expected job creation, changes in grid stability, social cost savings, and energy cost savings from a complete switch to wind, hydro and solar power by 2050.
Overall, this new clean world of wind, water and solar energy (WWS) “reduces energy needs by 57.1%, energy costs by 61% and social costs by 91%.” The initial cost totals $ 73 billion, but the long-term savings are well worth it. WWS’s approach will also create an estimated 28.6 million more jobs than in a typical business scenario (BAU).
“This document assesses Green New Deal solutions to global warming, air pollution and energy insecurity in 143 countries. The solutions involve the transition from all energy to 100% clean and renewable energy, efficiency and storage from wind-water-solar (WWS). WWS reduces global energy needs by 57.1%, energy costs by 61% and social costs (private plus health plus climate) by 91%, while avoiding blackouts, creating millions of jobs more than they are lost and requires little land. Therefore, the WWS 100% requires less energy, costs less and creates more jobs than current energy. “
Wind and sun: cheaper, cheaper, cheaper
Analysis after analysis, study after study, the message is the same: ending solar energy and wind as if we just won an NBA treble is the cheapest way to do it. Whether speaking of social costs, environmental costs, or simply energy costs, transforming wind and sunlight into electricity will save humans billions or trillions of dollars.
Now the story is going from being cheaper to a lot cheaper. We may get a lot of stories of early recalls of fossil power plants in 2021 and beyond.
Note: If you want to join the renewable energy revolution and go solar through Tesla, feel free to use my Tesla referral code, ts.la/zachary63404, to get $ 100 off a system of Tesla solar power (a conventional rooftop solar system). Photovoltaic system or Tesla solar tiles). But without pressure.
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About the Author
Zachary Shahan is trying to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here at CleanTechnica as its director, editor-in-chief and CEO. Zach is recognized worldwide as an expert in electric vehicles, solar energy and energy storage. He has presented on cleantech at conferences in India, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in NIO [NIO], Tesla [TSLA]and Xpeng [XPEV]. But it does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any kind.
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