Solar Power Is Sustainable for the Economy, Too
Climate Change, Energy & Pollution Finance Year in ReviewSummary
The cost of using solar electric energy has become the cheapest way to produce electricity. Since the year 2010, the costs of solar electric energy have dropped by 80 percent. Additionally, solar power now accounts for 9 percent of the world’s installed power capacity, compared to 1 percent in 2010. Solar plants are becoming so inexpensive that they are cheaper than coal itself. Solar power has won competitive power actions with the price being only 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. It is more economical to build a new solar plant than to operate an existing coal plant. The origins of solar energy are attributed to Germany, where citizens paid around 220 billion in taxes to fund their solar energy projects. Countries are continuing to increase their solar energy ability. Vietnam has 5 gigawatts of capacity, India has 20 gigawatts of capacity, and China has 175 gigawatts of capacity and the largest infrastructure in the world. Currently, in the US only a little more than 2 percent of the current power supply is from solar power. It is projected that the industry will grow quickly due to the low costs. Further 10,000 square miles of solar panels would be enough to power the USA. One of the major issues presented by solar energy is that at nighttime, very little energy is produced compared to the daytime. During the day excess energy goes to waste as the grid can not accept it. Additionally, storage remains expensive and analysis from MIT stated that if the storage price of 150 dollars per kilowatt-hour was achieved then the grid could comprise 95 percent renewable energy.