Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026 • Hacker News Board

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#311

Post by vel0city » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:05 PM UTC

baby_souffle wrote: post #199

tootie wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but compare that to the amount of land used for oil and gas extraction. The difference is that mines and drills can only go where there's stuff to extract and solar panels can go anywhere. Including near residential areas. That's also due to the fact that they are so environmentally neutral.

And you can do some agriculture near and under the panels. That's not the case with an oil well.

> And you can do some agriculture near and under the panels. That's not the case with an oil well.

You can absolutely do agriculture near oil and gas wells. I grew up next to land routinely leased to ranchers. That land was spotted with lots of active oil and gas wells. The cows would eat our flowers whenever they got out due to the oil company leaving gates improperly secured. Today I drive past fields of sorghum, corn, and wheat with little spots where active wells operate. Once drilled they usually don't take that much space to operate.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#312

Post by HerbManic » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:07 PM UTC

rcxdude wrote: post #162

dimitrios1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am against it for one reason only, but it's very solvable, IMO, and it's the amount of space they take up. I live next to 200+ acres of solar farms. A part of me cries a little when I see so much beautiful land and trees cut down and these lifeless panels taking up so much space. We have so many buildings, and structures already (think parking decks, tops of apartments, homes, offices, even parking lots) that we co…

I cry more when I think about the amount of farmland being used for bioethanol, something which is barely energy positive. If the US would switch the subsidies and regulations propping that up to propping up solar, it would easily free up a huge amount of land.

That and the excess amount of farming just to feed cows for beef.

Credit to our current system, if there was a need to cut back, we have a lot of easy cuts to gain some wiggle room.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#313

Post by iSnow » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

Danox wrote: post #31

How is that working for German industry where you need dense energy if you are going to continue build anything big..

Germany IS suffering from high energy prices, but renewables are only a small part of the problem.

It was a mistake to shut down the working nuclear power plants, and that also coincided with the abrupt loss of all (cheap) gas from Russia. Now, the country imports expensive LNG and renewables generate something like 80% on a good day - but thanks to merit order, the most expensive form of power generation sets the price and that is gas.

It doesn't help that thanks to shifts in industry, the grid has to be re-developed north->south instead of west->east and south-north. NIMBYism is rampant in Germany, so new high-voltage lines can take decades. Meanwhile, renewable capacity has to be shutdown if the transmission capacity of the grid cannot keep up during windy, sunny days.

Things are slowly improving what with grid-scale batteries coming online, and one major north-south connection being done. But yeah, it's going to take years still, and if our current governing coalition have their say, it's going to take even longer.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#314

Post by teamonkey » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

eldaisfish wrote: post #301

tencentshill wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They paid to decommission fossils early, and amortized it over the future. So it's going to drop like a rock once those debts are paid and the last plants shut down, with fewer remaining customers and lighter load on the grid. But until then, consumers will be paying higher bills. Similar to the UK - See item 18. https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/141240/html...

That is not what your link says?

Perhaps they did not mean point 18, but I found it interesting anyway.

The existing gas infrastructure represents a large amount of taxpayer investment, not due to be paid off until 2070. But it’s estimated that there won’t be any users of that infrastructure beyond 2050.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#315

Post by YWall39 » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:14 PM UTC

porphyra wrote: post #299

scope2093 wrote: post #246

We installed roof solar (10kW panels + 8kW hybrid inverter + 32kWh battery + planning/execution) last October for 11k euro. After all the math, our "investment" would pay off in approx 8-10 years (at current electricity prices). That's without an electric car, which we plan to buy sometime in the next two years. All in all, pretty happy. Especially that we have frequent grid faults. Even my ISP has some beefy batteri…

Nice. In the US, it cost us $35k to install 7.6 kW panels + 13 kWh battery. But our PG&E electricity prices in the Bay Area are also several times more expensive than in Europe ($0.50 per kWh) so it will also pay off in 8-10 years.

!35K, I just payed $11K for the same in Europe. But here in Spain it is not financially worth it, but insurers against frequent brownouts and 3 outages a year

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#316

Post by teamonkey » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

dimitrios1 wrote: post #79

Aurornis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how you can be against solar unless you’ve been given some uninformed talking points. Are they against solar subsidies or other policy provisions? It’s hard to understand someone who is against passive energy collection.

I am against it for one reason only, but it's very solvable, IMO, and it's the amount of space they take up. I live next to 200+ acres of solar farms. A part of me cries a little when I see so much beautiful land and trees cut down and these lifeless panels taking up so much space. We have so many buildings, and structures already (think parking decks, tops of apartments, homes, offices, even parking lots) that we co…

This guide to the UK’s Land Use Framework says that the amount of land required for renewables by 2050 is comparable to the amount of land used by golf courses.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-what-englands-new-land-use-fr...

Also see the amount of land used for beef and dairy. Before industrial farming, Britain was a rainforest.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#317

Post by teamonkey » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:29 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #131

dimitrios1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am against it for one reason only, but it's very solvable, IMO, and it's the amount of space they take up. I live next to 200+ acres of solar farms. A part of me cries a little when I see so much beautiful land and trees cut down and these lifeless panels taking up so much space. We have so many buildings, and structures already (think parking decks, tops of apartments, homes, offices, even parking lots) that we co…

Sure but compare that to the amount of land used for oil and gas extraction. The difference is that mines and drills can only go where there's stuff to extract and solar panels can go anywhere. Including near residential areas. That's also due to the fact that they are so environmentally neutral.

Also, when you’re done with the solar farm you simply take the panels off, disassemble the aluminium frame, then you have your field back. Unlike a coal mine.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#318

Post by citrin_ru » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:29 PM UTC

miahi wrote: post #275

zahlman wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And until new solar is cheaper than existing coal (which will be awhile, maybe never) then coal only decreases as plants shut down. Why wouldn't "existing solar is cheaper than existing coal, and existing coal is not required to meet demand" result in coal plants shutting down?

You need a lot of batteries to store the energy needed overnight and you have to plan for (lots of) days without sun. At my latitude (45N) the difference in solar production between summer and winter is 5x. Even with batteries, you still need a backup for a week of bad weather; so you have to choose between increasing the solar production 20x to have enough power generated in cloudy days or have a backup coal/gas/som…

In regions where winters are dark windy places tent to be not too far away. If both solar and wind both overbuild to the extent it makes sense (say 5x for solar and 2x for wind) and batteries cover a normal daily cycle you probably will need to burn gas on 10-20% of days which is not net zero but way way better than the current situation.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#319

Post by tootie » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC

tonymet wrote: post #284

tootie wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're considering the total cost then you have to factor in the entire reason to electrify which is the environmental cost of continuing to burn dead organic matter. In that case, electrification is absolute bargain.

to what end?

I just said. To reduce environmental impacts. A fully electric factory drawing power from a grid of renewables is cleaner, safer and more stable.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#320

Post by hydrolox » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 9:50 PM UTC

dimitrios1 wrote: post #79

Aurornis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how you can be against solar unless you’ve been given some uninformed talking points. Are they against solar subsidies or other policy provisions? It’s hard to understand someone who is against passive energy collection.

I am against it for one reason only, but it's very solvable, IMO, and it's the amount of space they take up. I live next to 200+ acres of solar farms. A part of me cries a little when I see so much beautiful land and trees cut down and these lifeless panels taking up so much space. We have so many buildings, and structures already (think parking decks, tops of apartments, homes, offices, even parking lots) that we co…

were you crying when you considered the myriad of negative effects of burning fossil fuels?