Wind and solar are losing ground to gas

[Polishprince]

Not to go into the whole subject, I just wanted to say that just being an average Joe- casual observer, solar seems like the way to go.

I have to laugh. Search this forum for threads about solar from even 4 years ago and every single rightwinger on this board were vehemently anti-solar. They all swore that solar would never be as cheap as gas, and it was doomed to failure.

Because they listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And that's what they told them. And they've been proven wrong again. This is the pattern: rightwingers fight against progress, then quietly accept it, then begin to praise it.

Same with the LED lightbulbs. Holy shit, the wingnuts on this site buying up cases of incandescent light bulbs! You can search this site for that, too!

What I think you are failing to consider is that although progress will be and has been made on solar, progress is also being made in regards to natural gas and other forms of energy too. It isn't "either-or"

 

[justoffal]

Not to go into the whole subject, I just wanted to say that just being an average Joe- casual observer, solar seems like the way to go.

I have to laugh. Search this forum for threads about solar from even 4 years ago and every single rightwinger on this board were vehemently anti-solar. They all swore that solar would never be as cheap as gas, and it was doomed to failure.

Because they listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And that's what they told them. And they've been proven wrong again. This is the pattern: rightwingers fight against progress, then quietly accept it, then begin to praise it.

Same with the LED lightbulbs. Holy shit, the wingnuts on this site buying up cases of incandescent light bulbs! You can search this site for that, too!

Solar is doomed to failure because it is NOT renewable as some fool themselves into thinking. We will be gone into fusion technologies long before solar becomes viable enough to be a power base.

JO

 

[justoffal]

Not to go into the whole subject, I just wanted to say that just being an average Joe- casual observer, solar seems like the way to go.

I have to laugh. Search this forum for threads about solar from even 4 years ago and every single rightwinger on this board were vehemently anti-solar. They all swore that solar would never be as cheap as gas, and it was doomed to failure.

Because they listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And that's what they told them. And they've been proven wrong again. This is the pattern: rightwingers fight against progress, then quietly accept it, then begin to praise it.

Same with the LED lightbulbs. Holy shit, the wingnuts on this site buying up cases of incandescent light bulbs! You can search this site for that, too!

What I think you are failing to consider is that although progress will be and has been made on solar, progress is also being made in regards to natural gas and other forms of energy too. It isn't "either-or"

They have become religiously attached to the idea and therefore reason flies out the window. Solar is no more renewable than the massive minerals base it takes to regenerate the panels once every 10 years. At the five year mark they go down to 70% efficiency compared to new builds and by the time they are 10 years old they function at less than half and need to be replaced for another costly installation fee. Lefty refuses to understand that NOTHING.....NOTHING is actually free.

 

[Synthaholic]

Solar+battery+hydro+wind+algae+biofuels+natural gas+propane

Phase out coal, oil, nuclear, even though it's extremely efficient. Just too dangerous.

 

[Old Rocks]

Watts Up With That?

Wind and solar are losing ground to gas

December 28, 2020

By David Wojick

The subsidies that never die — for wind and solar power — are back. With Christmas coming on the Lame Duck Congress elected to throw untold additional billions at renewables.

What is amusing is that gas-fired power generation, a fossil fuel with no subsidy, is still growing faster than wind and solar. Far from taking over, wind and solar are actually losing ground to fossil fuels in the American power capacity mix.

The last year we have comprehensive construction data for is 2018, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This was a good year to use because there was a bit of a race on to build renewables before the subsidies stopped, which they were then scheduled to do. (Unfortunately, due to the Lame Ducks this is no longer true.)

LINK

That is, during the first three-quarters of 2020, solar and wind increased their electrical generation by 45,285 GWh compared to the same period in 2019. By comparison, electrical generation by natural gas increased by only 45,254 GWh. ... On the other hand, wind grew by 12.2% and solar by 22.1%.Dec 21, 2020

Watts Up With That?

Wind and solar are losing ground to gas

December 28, 2020

By David Wojick

The subsidies that never die — for wind and solar power — are back. With Christmas coming on the Lame Duck Congress elected to throw untold additional billions at renewables.

What is amusing is that gas-fired power generation, a fossil fuel with no subsidy, is still growing faster than wind and solar. Far from taking over, wind and solar are actually losing ground to fossil fuels in the American power capacity mix.

The last year we have comprehensive construction data for is 2018, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This was a good year to use because there was a bit of a race on to build renewables before the subsidies stopped, which they were then scheduled to do. (Unfortunately, due to the Lame Ducks this is no longer true.)

LINK

The latest issue of EIA's "Electric Power Monthly" (with data through September 30, 2020), reveals that wind accounted for 7.9% of US electrical generation during the first nine months of 2020. Solar - including small-scale solar PV (e.g., rooftop systems) provided another 3.4%. By comparison, natural gas provided 40.6%.

However, in what may prove to be a harbinger of things to come, the increase in new electricity from wind and solar was actually greater than the increase in electrical generation by natural gas. That is, during the first three-quarters of 2020, solar and wind increased their electrical generation by 45,285 GWh compared to the same period in 2019.

By comparison, electrical generation by natural gas increased by only 45,254 GWh. While it continued to provide the largest of the nation's electrical output, natural gas grew by only 3.8% during the first nine months of 2020 and actually dropped by 5.5% in the month of September. On the other hand, wind grew by 12.2% and solar by 22.1%.

OVERVIEW - Solar-plus-wind generation in US growing faster than natural gas

According to a SUN DAY Campaign analysis of recently released data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), electrical generation by solar and wind is beginning to close the gap with natural gas and the trend is accelerating.

renewablesnow.com

 

[Old Rocks]

Renewables replace fossil fuel energy on the grid.
In the U.S. and in virtually every region, when electricity supplied by wind or solar energy is available, it displaces energy produced by natural gas or coal-fired generators. The type of energy displaced by renewables depends on the hour of the day and the mix of generation on the grid at that time. Countless studies have found that because output from wind and solar replaces fossil generation, renewables also reduce CO2 emissions. For example, an NREL study found that generating 35% of electricity using wind and solar in the western U.S. would reduce CO2 emissions by 25-45%.

Solar and wind farms have dominated new power plant builds in the U.S. in recent years, while fossil fuel plants—particularly coal-fired plants—continue to be retired at record pace. In 2019, wind (9.1GW) and solar (5.3GW) represented 62% of all new generating capacity, compared to 8.3GW of natural gas, while 14GW of coal-fired capacity was retired. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has also projected that most new electric generation added in the U.S. in 2020 could come from wind and solar, with new natural gas plants projected to represent less than a quarter of new generating capacity. Certainly, some of these installations may be delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While natural gas builds exceeded those of renewables in 2018, reversing the earlier trend of renewables leading, there were 12.9GW of coal-fired capacity and 4.6GW of gas-fired capacity retired in that same year, according to EIA.

Setting the Record Straight About Renewable Energy

Over the last decade, the clean energy industry has changed tremendously: Costs have fallen dramatically, technologies have become more efficient and solutions for integrating renewables into electric grids have advanced.

www.wri.org

 

[Old Rocks]

New U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data predict solar and wind energy will dominate America’s new generation in 2020, making up 76% of new generation and adding 42 gigawatts (GW) of zero emission capacity, while coal and natural gas will dominate 2020 retirements with 85% of plant closures.

Renewable Energy Prices Hit Record Lows: How Can Utilities Benefit From Unstoppable Solar And Wind?

If falling prices have made renewable energy unstoppable in the U.S., what does that mean for utilities? If the question is determined by smart policy, the answer may be financial opportunity.

www.forbes.com

 

[Old Rocks]

Not to go into the whole subject, I just wanted to say that just being an average Joe- casual observer, solar seems like the way to go.

I have to laugh. Search this forum for threads about solar from even 4 years ago and every single rightwinger on this board were vehemently anti-solar. They all swore that solar would never be as cheap as gas, and it was doomed to failure.

Because they listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And that's what they told them. And they've been proven wrong again. This is the pattern: rightwingers fight against progress, then quietly accept it, then begin to praise it.

Same with the LED lightbulbs. Holy shit, the wingnuts on this site buying up cases of incandescent light bulbs! You can search this site for that, too!

What I think you are failing to consider is that although progress will be and has been made on solar, progress is also being made in regards to natural gas and other forms of energy too. It isn't "either-or"

They have become religiously attached to the idea and therefore reason flies out the window. Solar is no more renewable than the massive minerals base it takes to regenerate the panels once every 10 years. At the five year mark they go down to 70% efficiency compared to new builds and by the time they are 10 years old they function at less than half and need to be replaced for another costly installation fee. Lefty refuses to understand that NOTHING.....NOTHING is actually free.

What a liar you are. Almost all panels are guaranteed for 20 years or more, and the guarantee is that they will still have 80% or more of their original capacity at that point.

How Long Do Solar Panels Last? | Solar Panel Lifespan

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