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The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

electrek.co

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Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#61

Post by MichaelBurge »

mikestew wrote: post #42
MichaelBurge wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you get fined if you do that.

Care to explain? Because unless you're arguing along the lines of something something farm subsidies, I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

Usually farmland is zoned only for farmland use. You need an inspector to approve any building, and it must be related to farm use.

In Oregon, here's the list of allowed uses of farmland: http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/215.213

You could probably install solar panels for the purpose of powering your house and farm equipment, but you couldn't install solar panels everywhere and sell the electricity to the public:

"Utility facilities necessary for public service, including wetland waste treatment systems but not including commercial facilities for the purpose of generating electrical power for public use by sale or transmission towers over 200 feet in height."

It's not just a local thing: Maybe there are places where it doesn't hold, but the government wants to ensure the US isn't dependent on other countries for food. So it puts restrictions on the farmland to ensure that there's always enough food available.

OTOH, if by 'farmland', you meant 'desert in Nevada', I can't imagine anyone would care if you bought it up and installed panels there.

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#62

Post by maw »

d_theorist wrote: post #45

This might seem like a weird thing to complain about, but am I the only person who is sick to death of headlines of the form "X just did Y"? It's the "just" I object to. It seems to be some sort of trend over the last couple of years. I think it's to make it seem more dramatic or something. It just happened! My god! In this case it is especially ridiculous, since the article describes something that happened over the…

You've just posted an example of the recency illusion.

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#63

Post by maxerickson »

wmeredith wrote: post #43
Retric wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diminishing returns mean you end up covering deserts with solar before farm land. Next, highly marginal farm land. On the other hand, wind farms have a tiny footprint so that's already a major thing in some areas.

RE: Windfarms This has been a dramatic change in the US midwest landscape over the last decade. When driving through Iowa or Kansas these days, the horizon is constantly dotted with wind turbines nestled in amongst the corn fields or livestock pastures. 15 years ago this was NOT the case.

I don't see a way to link it directly but the layers on this map can be adjusted to show the many wind and solar projects in the US:

http://www.eia.gov/state/maps.cfm

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#64

Post by mattlondon »

d_theorist wrote: post #45

This might seem like a weird thing to complain about, but am I the only person who is sick to death of headlines of the form "X just did Y"? It's the "just" I object to. It seems to be some sort of trend over the last couple of years. I think it's to make it seem more dramatic or something. It just happened! My god! In this case it is especially ridiculous, since the article describes something that happened over the…

Its SEO/Click-bait 101 unfortunately. It is sensationalisation of something to make it sound more interesting.

Next it will be "See what crazy change to solar made energy purchasers sit up pay attention!"

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#65

Post by draw_down »

d_theorist wrote: post #45

This might seem like a weird thing to complain about, but am I the only person who is sick to death of headlines of the form "X just did Y"? It's the "just" I object to. It seems to be some sort of trend over the last couple of years. I think it's to make it seem more dramatic or something. It just happened! My god! In this case it is especially ridiculous, since the article describes something that happened over the…

Oh good, we can whine about this instead of talking about the issue at hand. This is HN constantly now, the top comment is some nitpick more or less totally unrelated to the topic.

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#66

Post by JustSomeNobody »

d_theorist wrote: post #45

This might seem like a weird thing to complain about, but am I the only person who is sick to death of headlines of the form "X just did Y"? It's the "just" I object to. It seems to be some sort of trend over the last couple of years. I think it's to make it seem more dramatic or something. It just happened! My god! In this case it is especially ridiculous, since the article describes something that happened over the…

I came in here to complain about this same thing. Just implies a timeline much shorter than 16 mos.

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#67

Post by mtgx »

samfpetersen wrote: post #51

Is this not just a symptom of oil prices dropping? Solar has to remain competitively priced or the industry is screwed

No, solar installations have doubled every 2 years, which would be inline with the price dropping in half every 2 years, too.

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/07/22/exponential-growth-globa...

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#68

Post by mod »

mattlondon wrote: post #64
d_theorist wrote: post #45

This might seem like a weird thing to complain about, but am I the only person who is sick to death of headlines of the form "X just did Y"? It's the "just" I object to. It seems to be some sort of trend over the last couple of years. I think it's to make it seem more dramatic or something. It just happened! My god! In this case it is especially ridiculous, since the article describes something that happened over the…

Its SEO/Click-bait 101 unfortunately. It is sensationalisation of something to make it sound more interesting. Next it will be "See what crazy change to solar made energy purchasers sit up pay attention!"

But can it be improved with a "just?"

"See what crazy change to solar just made energy purchasers sit up and pay attention!"

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#69

Post by spiderfarmer »

giarc wrote: post #6
Retric wrote: post #2

A side effect of this, large scale grid solar is now significantly cheaper than rooftop solar due to labor costs.

At which point would it be financially beneficial for a farmer to turn a field into a solar farm rather than plant a crop? I have no knowledge in economics of either so I couldn't even estimate.

In arid regions with a low crop per acre yield it's beneficial right now. If the farmer has the money to finance it by himself it's almost certainly beneficial. But ofcourse it's better to just put them on your roof. In Germany and The Netherlands most farmers have solar panels on their (quite large) barns.

Re: The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months

#70

Post by epistasis »

mdorazio wrote: post #8
tim333 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to tell for a while as these tend to be 20 year contracts.

I think that's part of the reason the bids are so cheap, though. They're probably counting on some cost reductions over time so that even if they lose some money up front, the long-term profitability will be there. I doubt that anyone can actually deliver solar power at a profit today for the bid prices listed.

Given that the vast majority of solar costs are upfront, and that the lifetime of a solar install is greater than 20 years, how would future cost reductions help with a project that's starting soon?
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