“The duck has landed,” writes California-based energy expert Meredith Fowlie about renewables pushing demand for conventional power at midday below the overnight level. But what Californians call a technical limit is, in reality, a political one, as Craig Morris’s comparison with Germany reveals.
All posts tagged: Solar
Opportunity to leapfrog into the renewable age – is India on the right track?
India is poised to show the value of renewable energies to developing economies. Its new targets, government programs, alongside other factors, seem to be moving India into a renewable energy age. Srinivas Krishnaswamy takes an in-depth perspective.
Berlin’s Renewable Energy Fiasco… Revisited
Although the Wall Street Journal has called the German energy transition a “fiasco,” Javier López Prol argues that renewables are clearly a success. Fossil fuels only seem cheaper as they externalize costs onto the environment, and that higher electricity costs are not the economic catastrophe that critics claim.
The case for ‘Gigawatts of Change’ in Egypt
Simon Ilse summarizes the new study “80 Gigawatts of Change” by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR). Civil society groups can use study to compare social and ecological impacts, and use its findings as a tool for advocacy.
The Cost Of Solar Power In Hawaii
The Hawaiian legislature aims to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2045. Jake Richardson investigates how the state plans on incentivizing solar power to take advantage of the island’s natural sunny climate.
Amendments to German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) take shape
Last Wednesday, the German cabinet finalized the details of what will become known as the EEG 2016. An astonishingly wide range of commenters agree on one thing: it’s bad. By Craig Morris.
The Evolution of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Greece: A Synopsis of the Legal Framework
The Greek renewable energy transition has its origin in the 1990s when the country first introduced a feed-in tariff. The road since then has been a bumpy one, yet Greece’s government issued a draft proposal whereby the country is to reach a 40 percent renewable electricity target by 2020. If this proposal is adopted, Greece will have to considerably speed up its build-up of renewables, as Marilena Zidianaki explains.
Understanding record-low 3-cent solar in Dubai in context
In April, a renewable energy auction in the United Arab Emirates produced an astonishingly low price. At 2.99 cents per kilowatt-hour, solar power suddenly costs half as much as it did a year ago. It has thus practically reached the level experts hoped for 2030. Craig Morris explains.
German PV auctions reach record low price, but most bids still lose
Germany completed its fourth round of auctions for ground-mounted photovoltaics this month, and the government is pleased with the outcome in light of the continued falling prices. The Undersecretary in Germany’s Energy Ministry also speaks of “intense competition” as a positive outcome. The other side of that coin is a lot of losing bids – not to mention those who didn’t bother to take part. Craig Morris explains.
How arguments on solar power affect public support in the US and Germany
Jobs, fighting climate change, energy security – there are a number of good reasons to support solar power. But as Alexander Franke explains in his recent essay published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, arguments by solar activists differ widely in Germany and the US. He argues that solar supporters should continue to focus their ideas and arguments on their target audience, even if that entails talking less about environmental issues.