Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels

[ScienceRocks]

Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1

Quote

Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

"We're in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future," Liebreich said during his keynote address at the BNEF Summit in New York on Tuesday. "Did that stop renewable energy investment? Not at all."

Here's what's shaping power markets, in six charts from BNEF:
Renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1

Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015
Source: BNEF, UNEP

Quote

Government subsidies have helped wind and solar get a foothold in global power markets, but economies of scale are the true driver of falling prices: The cost of solar power has fallen to 1/150th of its level in the 1970s, while the total amount of installed solar has soared 115,000-fold.

As solar prices fall, installations boom

The price has dropped so much that the private sector is starting to favor solar and wind!

 

[Dale Smith]

Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1

Quote

Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

"We're in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future," Liebreich said during his keynote address at the BNEF Summit in New York on Tuesday. "Did that stop renewable energy investment? Not at all."

Here's what's shaping power markets, in six charts from BNEF:
Renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1

Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015
Source: BNEF, UNEP

Quote

Government subsidies have helped wind and solar get a foothold in global power markets, but economies of scale are the true driver of falling prices: The cost of solar power has fallen to 1/150th of its level in the 1970s, while the total amount of installed solar has soared 115,000-fold.

As solar prices fall, installations boom

The price has dropped so much that the private sector is starting to favor solar and wind!

Oil is not a fossil fuel....do you really believe that there are dead dinosaur remains a mile under the earth's crust? Do you still believe in Santa Claus? Oil is an abiotic fluid naturally produced by the friction of the earth's crust. Now, with that being said, I am not a fan of petroleum because I know that free energy Tesla technology has been around for almost 100 years and the shadow "gubermint" uses it in their deep underground military bunkers...but let's keep it real...shall we?

 

[MarathonMike]

That's a new one on me, what the heck is an abiotic fluid?

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1

Quote

Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

"We're in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future," Liebreich said during his keynote address at the BNEF Summit in New York on Tuesday. "Did that stop renewable energy investment? Not at all."

Here's what's shaping power markets, in six charts from BNEF:
Renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1

Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015
Source: BNEF, UNEP

Quote

Government subsidies have helped wind and solar get a foothold in global power markets, but economies of scale are the true driver of falling prices: The cost of solar power has fallen to 1/150th of its level in the 1970s, while the total amount of installed solar has soared 115,000-fold.

As solar prices fall, installations boom

The price has dropped so much that the private sector is starting to favor solar and wind!

So impress me with your solar car.

 

[Freewill]

That's a new one on me, what the heck is an abiotic fluid?

The “Abiotic Oil” Controversy

 

[Old Rocks]

The whole of the 'Gold' abiotic oil hypothesis has been blown away by the geologists.

 

[Mr. H.]

Wind and Solar installations would not exist if not for fossil fuels, you stupid fuck.

 

[Mr. H.]

The whole of the 'Gold' abiotic oil hypothesis has been blown away by the geologists.

Whereas I do find this "informative", I'd appreciate some supporting documentation.

 

[baileyn45]

While I'm all for renewables, c'mon.

• Coal = 33%
• Natural gas = 33%
• Nuclear = 20%
• Hydropower = 6%
• Other renewables = 7%
  • Biomass = 1.6%
  • Geothermal = 0.4%
  • Solar = 0.6%
  • Wind = 4.7%
• Petroleum = 1%
• Other gases = <1%

What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source? - FAQ - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

 

[Renae]

Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1

Quote

Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

"We're in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future," Liebreich said during his keynote address at the BNEF Summit in New York on Tuesday. "Did that stop renewable energy investment? Not at all."

Here's what's shaping power markets, in six charts from BNEF:
Renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1

Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015
Source: BNEF, UNEP

Quote

Government subsidies have helped wind and solar get a foothold in global power markets, but economies of scale are the true driver of falling prices: The cost of solar power has fallen to 1/150th of its level in the 1970s, while the total amount of installed solar has soared 115,000-fold.

As solar prices fall, installations boom

The price has dropped so much that the private sector is starting to favor solar and wind!

So good:
Ivanpah Solar Plant May Be Forced to Shut Down

 

[Old Rocks]

Wind energy top source for new electric capacity in 2015
Emerging opportunities in American wind power will be on display at this year’s WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition
February 16, 2016

NARUC Winter Meeting, Washington, D.C., February 16, 2016 — Wind energy installed more electric generating capacity last year than any other energy source in America.

The 8.6 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity installed last year surpassed the 7.3 GW of new solar photovoltaic capacity during 2015 and the 6 GW installed by natural gas, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the recently released Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) and Bloomberg New Energy and Finance (BNEF) 2016 Factbook. Wind accounted for more than 35 percent of new generating capacity, while all renewable resources together provided 68 percent of the new capacity, according to the Factbook.

“Wind’s growth is being propelled by cost reductions of two-thirds over the last six years, which now makes wind the lowest-cost source of new generation,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), at the annual winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), in the Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C..

“It’s one of the biggest, fastest, cheapest ways we can reduce U.S. carbon emissions, and the low-cost solution for power sector reductions. Utilities and other purchasers are turning to wind energy also because it provides stably-priced energy with no fuel price risk, and protects consumers by creating a more diverse energy portfolio,” Kiernan said.

The emerging opportunities in American wind power will be on display at this year’s WINDPOWERConference & Exhibition in New Orleans, May 23-26. Attendees can network with industry leaders at the largest wind power trade show in the Western Hemisphere. Registration and press accreditation is now open.

Wind energy top source for new electric capacity in 2015

8.6 Gw of wind, 7.3 Gw of solar. Sounds to me like both forms of renewable are doing great.

 

[Old Rocks]

Denmark produced 42% of its electricity from wind turbines last year according to official data, the highest figure yet recorded worldwide.

The new year-end figures showed a 3% rise on 2014, which was itself a record year for Danish wind energy generation.

The country’s minister for energy, utilities and climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt, called the record significant and said: “Hopefully, Denmark can serve as an example to other countries that it is possible to have both ambitious green policies with a high proportion of wind energy and other renewables in the energy supply, and still have a high security of supply and competitive prices on electricity.”

Two Western Danish regions – Jutland and Funen – supplied more electricity than the area’s inhabitants consumed for the equivalent of 60 days of the year.

“The fact that we are now generating surplus power 16% of the time in the Western Danish power grid illustrates that... we can benefit from imports and exports across borders to an even greater extent,” said Carsten Vittrup, an adviser to Energinet, Denmark’s transmissions systems operator.

Denmark broke world record for wind power in 2015

Looks like Denmark is doing well with wind.

 

[Old Rocks]

Worldwide, wind is doing very well.

http://www.gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/vip/GWEC-PRstats-2015_LR.pdf

 

[Old Rocks]

Today GTM Research became the latest organization to provide numbers for the global solar market in 2015, joining estimates released by Mercom Capital and PV Market Alliance. The company’s preliminary estimates put the global solar PV market at 34% growth during the year to 59 GW, an estimate slightly higher than Mercom’s (58 GW) and much higher than PV Market Alliance (at least 51 GW).

In 2016 GTM Research expects this growth to slow significantly to only 64 MW, citing reduced feed-in tariffs in China, Japan and the UK. This estimate is within 1 MW of Mercom Capital’s forecast, showing a high degree of consensus between analysts. This would bring cumulative installed PV to 321 MW.

Below these top-line numbers are significant changes. The company expects the United States market to grow 80% to 13.4 GW, before a slight drop in 2017. GTM Research expects the U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) extension in December to have a huge impact, with the U.S. share of global PV demand growing 10-15% to 2020 due to the policy.



Read more: GTM Research: 59 GW of solar installed in 2015, 64 GW coming in 2016

Looks as if solar is doing very well, also.

 

[Zander]

I am all for renewable energy. I love solar. Have a 5KW system installed on my house (I own the system) and it works great and the payback was less than 3 years. . I am saving over $350/month for buying they system, and it increased my property value. But why should I get a tax break for that?

I think it is a bad idea to continue to subsidize these industries with government incentives. Why should anyone get a $7500 federal tax credit for buying a fucking Tesla? If the individual states want to have programs and incentives (like California's Solar initiative) I am fine with that, but the Feds have no business doling out billion$ in tax dollar$ to support these industries.

 

[80zephyr]

Here is the entire title of the article:

Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
Record clean energy investment outpaces gas and coal 2 to 1.


If by "crushing" you mean spending, then I guess I agree. Now, if you mean production...then I don't.

I suppose if you word anything correctly, people will eat it up.

Mark

 

[Old Rocks]

The whole of the 'Gold' abiotic oil hypothesis has been blown away by the geologists.

Whereas I do find this "informative", I'd appreciate some supporting documentation.

Abiogenic Origin of Hydrocarbons: An Historical Overview

1. Geoffrey P. Glasby*

Article first published online: 5 NOV 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-3928.2006.tb00271.x

© 2006 Society of Resource Geology

Issue




Abstract. The two theories of abiogenic formation of hydrocarbons, the Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins and Thomas Gold's deep gas theory, have been considered in some detail. Whilst the Russian-Ukrainian theory was portrayed as being scientifically rigorous in contrast to the biogenic theory which was thought to be littered with invalid assumptions, this applies only to the formation of the higher hydrocarbons from methane in the upper mantle. In most other aspects, in particular the influence of the oxidation state of the mantle on the abundance of methane, this rigour is lacking especially when judged against modern criteria as opposed to the level of understanding in the 1950s to 1980s when this theory was at its peak. Thomas Gold's theory involves degassing of methane from the mantle and the formation of higher hydrocarbons from methane in the upper layers of the Earth's crust. However, formation of higher hydrocarbons in the upper layers of the Earth's crust occurs only as a result of Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions in the presence of hydrogen gas but is otherwise not possible on thermodynamic grounds. This theory is therefore invalid. Both theories have been overtaken by the increasingly sophisticated understanding of the modes of formation of hydrocarbon deposits in nature.

Here you are, Mr. H

 

[Old Rocks]

The whole of the 'Gold' abiotic oil hypothesis has been blown away by the geologists.

Whereas I do find this "informative", I'd appreciate some supporting documentation.

Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry Vol. 75 pp. 449-465, 2013 Copyright © Mineralogical Society of America

On the Origins of Deep Hydrocarbons

Mark A. Sephton Earth Science & Engineering Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom [email protected]

Robert M. Hazen Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington 5251 Broad Branch Road NW Washington, DC 20015, U.S.A

Deep deposits of hydrocarbons, including varied reservoirs of petroleum and natural gas, represent the most economically important component of the deep carbon cycle. Yet despite their intensive study and exploitation for more than a century, details of the origins of some deep hydrocarbons remain a matter of vocal debate in some scientific circles. This long and continuing history of controversy may surprise some readers, for the biogenic origins of “fossil fuels”—a principle buttressed by a vast primary scientific literature and established as textbook orthodoxy in North America and many other parts of the world—might appear to be settled fact. Nevertheless, conventional wisdom continues to be challenged by some scientists. The principal objectives of this chapter are: (1) to review the overwhelming evidence for the biogenic origins of most known deep hydrocarbon reservoirs; (2) to present equally persuasive experimental, theoretical, and field evidence, which indicates that components of some deep hydrocarbon deposits appear to have an abiotic origin; and (3) to suggest future studies that might help to achieve a more nuanced resolution of this sometimes polarized topic.

http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/RIM/RiMG075/RiMG075_Ch14.pdf

I can post more sources for you, if you want them.

 

[elektra]

Ha, ha, ha, yes, investing in Wind and Solar is extremely expensive, which is what this thread is about, of course it is crushing the competition, IN COST!

Too bad its output is tiny trickle.

 

[elektra]

Expensive is what the OP proves, it also shows the mad rush to Federal Tax credits. Billions in tax credits make the artificial business of green energy lucrative to executives.