US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
reneweconomy.com.au
US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
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Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#2On the one hand it's great to get Solar below cost _at someone else's_ expense (Chinese over producing manufacturers), on the other hand I'd prefer that some of our own PV mfgs remain afloat.
Ultimately the goal is to wean off of fossil fuels, but if all our R&D is unprofitable we may miss some breakthroughs.
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#3Our local solar panel plant shut down a few months ago - Suniva. They just mysteriously closed up shop.
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#4Our local solar panel plant shut down a few months ago - Suniva. They just mysteriously closed up shop.
No warning at all?
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#5On the one hand it's great to get Solar below cost _at someone else's_ expense (Chinese over producing manufacturers), on the other hand I'd prefer that some of our own PV mfgs remain afloat. Ultimately the goal is to wean off of fossil fuels, but if all our R&D is unprofitable we may miss some breakthroughs.
"Over-producing" isn't really a thing. You're complaining about supply outstripping demand causing prices to fall - that's always going to happen with any mass produced goods.
It sounds like the real issue is that doing R&D in the U.S. is uncompetitively expensive compared to doing the same work in China.
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#6Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#7Our local solar panel plant shut down a few months ago - Suniva. They just mysteriously closed up shop.
No warning at all?
They were only around a year or two
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2017/03/30/breaking-suniva-lays-...
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#8Flying recently from Phoenix to San Jose I was amazed by the size of the solar arrays I saw in the desert. I wasn't sure that that was what they were; but I found some of them on Google maps satellite after and confirmed it (cool time we live it). Good news is that there's so much more room to build more!!!
Edit here if anyone's curious: https://goo.gl/maps/SjzWw9b2dSH2
Edit 2 - as an aside, when I first saw, I couldn't tell if it was solar or ag (e.g. here's what ag looks like - https://goo.gl/maps/AGvAxJ61BwB2 if you zoom out they look very similar!)
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#9On the one hand it's great to get Solar below cost _at someone else's_ expense (Chinese over producing manufacturers), on the other hand I'd prefer that some of our own PV mfgs remain afloat. Ultimately the goal is to wean off of fossil fuels, but if all our R&D is unprofitable we may miss some breakthroughs.
"Over-producing" isn't really a thing. You're complaining about supply outstripping demand causing prices to fall - that's always going to happen with any mass produced goods. It sounds like the real issue is that doing R&D in the U.S. is uncompetitively expensive compared to doing the same work in China.
Eh, that’s monopolistic
Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year
#10On the one hand it's great to get Solar below cost _at someone else's_ expense (Chinese over producing manufacturers), on the other hand I'd prefer that some of our own PV mfgs remain afloat. Ultimately the goal is to wean off of fossil fuels, but if all our R&D is unprofitable we may miss some breakthroughs.
Sounds like we need to boost demand then!