China Overtakes Germany To Become World’s Leading Solar PV Country

[ScienceRocks]

China Overtakes Germany To Become World’s Leading Solar PV Country

January 22nd, 2016 by Joshua S Hill

China has overtaken Germany in 2015 in terms of solar PV capacity, according to data from China’s Photovoltaic Industry Association.
Reported by China’s state-run media outlet, Xinhua News, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) reported that China added 15 GW of solar PV capacity during 2015, a 40% increase on 2014 numbers, bringing the country’s total solar PV capacity up to 43 GW.
Meanwhile, according to Germany’s Federal Network Agency and Fraunhofer ISE, Germany only installed 1.3 GW in 2015, reaching roughly 40 GW

Go China go!!! wahoo!

 

[Anathema]

We seem to be installing a lot of that crap here in Central Massachusetts
It's an absolute eyesore and a pain in the ass for those of us in the electric utility industry.

 

[Jackson]

I thought Obama was going to make America the leader with Solyndra.

 

[Old Rocks]

We seem to be installing a lot of that crap here in Central Massachusetts
It's an absolute eyesore and a pain in the ass for those of us in the electric utility industry.

Very good. I hope it becomes a major pain.

 

[Old Rocks]

I thought Obama was going to make America the leader with Solyndra.

First class dumb fuck, aren't you.

World’s Cheapest Solar Power Lands In Austin, Texas — Under 4¢/kWh! (Sort Of)

World’s Cheapest Solar Power Lands In Austin, Texas — Under 4¢/kWh! (Sort Of)

July 2nd, 2015 by Zachary Shahan
Update: I added the Lazard chart on levelized cost of electricity and the update below it in order to provide some context for those who don’t realize that 4¢/kWh (or even 5.71¢/kWh) is lower than the lowest LCOE for all other sources of electricity other than wind power.
Texans likes to be #1. Well, a lot of people like to be #1, but Texans are particularly known for this. For the time being, the Lone Star State can now lay claim to being #1 again with the cheapest solar power on the planet.
Not long ago, Dubai grabbed the title with a bid for a large solar project coming in under 6¢/kWh. As that article explains, that 5.98¢/kWh bid (now actually down to 5.84¢/kWh) shattered the previous record for the world’s cheapest solar power (or the world’s lowest solar power bid, since there is a slight difference). That article also noted that the second-lowest bid would have taken the record if the lowest hadn’t existed, showing that it wasn’t just a crazy anomaly from one developer. The Dubai solar bids were very exciting, and the talk of the industry for months, but records don’t last very long in the world of solar these days.
Austin Energy, the city of Austin’s utility, recently put out data on solar project bids for the utility’s 600 MW procurement plan. To show how competitive this landscape is, Khalil Shalabi, Austin Energy’s vice president of resource planning, noted that 7,976 MW worth of solar projects were bid in April in competition for this 600 MW.
The actual price is under 5 cents/kWh. Looks like coal is history.

 

[Jackson]

I thought Obama was going to make America the leader with Solyndra.

First class dumb fuck, aren't you.

World’s Cheapest Solar Power Lands In Austin, Texas — Under 4¢/kWh! (Sort Of)

World’s Cheapest Solar Power Lands In Austin, Texas — Under 4¢/kWh! (Sort Of)

July 2nd, 2015 by Zachary Shahan
Update: I added the Lazard chart on levelized cost of electricity and the update below it in order to provide some context for those who don’t realize that 4¢/kWh (or even 5.71¢/kWh) is lower than the lowest LCOE for all other sources of electricity other than wind power.
Texans likes to be #1. Well, a lot of people like to be #1, but Texans are particularly known for this. For the time being, the Lone Star State can now lay claim to being #1 again with the cheapest solar power on the planet.
Not long ago, Dubai grabbed the title with a bid for a large solar project coming in under 6¢/kWh. As that article explains, that 5.98¢/kWh bid (now actually down to 5.84¢/kWh) shattered the previous record for the world’s cheapest solar power (or the world’s lowest solar power bid, since there is a slight difference). That article also noted that the second-lowest bid would have taken the record if the lowest hadn’t existed, showing that it wasn’t just a crazy anomaly from one developer. The Dubai solar bids were very exciting, and the talk of the industry for months, but records don’t last very long in the world of solar these days.
Austin Energy, the city of Austin’s utility, recently put out data on solar project bids for the utility’s 600 MW procurement plan. To show how competitive this landscape is, Khalil Shalabi, Austin Energy’s vice president of resource planning, noted that 7,976 MW worth of solar projects were bid in April in competition for this 600 MW.
The actual price is under 5 cents/kWh. Looks like coal is history.

Uh huh...
Solyndra: Politics infused Obama energy programs

Linda Sterio remembers the excitement when President Obama arrived at Solyndra last year and described how his administration’s financial support for the plant was helping create hundreds of jobs. The company’s prospects appeared unlimited as Solyndra executives described the backlog of orders for its solar panels.

Then came the August morning when Sterio heard a newscaster announce that more than a thousand Solyndra employees were out of work. Only recently did she learn that, within the Obama administration, the company’s potential collapse had long been discussed.

“It’s not about the people; it’s politics,” said Sterio, who remains jobless and at risk of losing her home. “We all feel betrayed.”

Since the failure of the company, Obama’s entire $80 billion clean-
technology program has begun to look like a political liability for an administration about to enter a bruising reelection campaign.

Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.

The records, some previously unreported, show that when warned that financial disaster might lie ahead, the administration remained steadfast in its support for Solyndra.
Solyndra: Politics infused Obama energy programs

 

[Old Rocks]

And I suppose the employees of the Whippet Automobile company were equally disappointed.

 

[anotherlife]

Everything from China is cheaper. Why not solar panels? I am surprised Germany could keep up this far with the Chinese silicon mine prison labor.

 

[elektra]

No kidding, a tiny country like Germany got surpassed by China?

Soon China will have 50 nuclear power plants.

Solar is insignificant in China.

 

[Maggdy]

No kidding, a tiny country like Germany got surpassed by China?

Soon China will have 50 nuclear power plants.

Solar is insignificant in China.

There are many positive perspective is.

An example:
2016-03-08
BEIJING -- China will manage to exploit the space between earth and the moon for solar power and other resources after it builds a space station in 2020, Lt Gen. Zhang Yulin, said Monday.

The deputy chief of the armament development department of the Central Military Commission said preliminary work on the program had already begun.

"The earth-moon space will be strategically important for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," said the national lawmaker.

China's military authority is one of the several departments working on the national space program.

Zhang told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing annual legislative session that generating solar power in space will be much more efficient than on earth. Silicon dioxide used in solar panels, is inexhaustible on the moon, while water in the moon's polar regions and on asteroids can be electrolyzed into oxygen and hydrogen to make propellant for spacecraft.

With propellant and solar panels, a solar power plant could be constructed in space between earth and the moon, impossible with current technology as an industrial-scale power plant would weigh over 10,000 tonnes. The International Space Station, the biggest man-made object to be sent into orbit, weighs just over 400 tonnes."
source: Exploiting earth-moon space: China's ambition after space station - Chinadaily.com.cn