Will Solar Save The World?

World Energy Hits a Turning Point: Solar That's Cheaper Than Wind; Emerging markets are leapfrogging the developed world thanks to cheap panels.

Tom Randall, December 14, 2016 (Bloomberg News) “…[As 2016 comes to an end, solar] power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity…[U]nsubsidized solar is beginning to outcompete coal and natural gas…[and] new solar projects in emerging markets are costing less to build than wind projects…While solar was bound to fall below wind eventually, given its steeper price declines, few predicted it would happen this soon…[In 2016 auctions, where] private companies compete for massive contracts to provide electricity, established record after record for cheap solar power. It started with a contract in January to produce electricity for $64 per megawatt-hour in India; then a deal in August pegging $29.10 per megawatt hour in Chile. That’s record-cheap electricity—roughly half the price of competing coal power…When all the 2016 completions are tallied in coming months, it’s likely that the total amount of solar photovoltaics added globally [now projected at 70 GW] will exceed that of wind [projected at 59 GW] for the first time...[The world is now] adding more capacity for clean energy each year than for coal and natural gas combined…” click here for more

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