Tag: Growth
Economic Factors Drive Wind and Solar Growth
The post Economic Factors Drive Wind and Solar Growth appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have found that a combination of lower capital, operating, and finance costs, in addition to better equipment performance, and longer useful lives, have driven power purchase agreement (PPA) prices and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for utility-scale wind and solar projects to all-time lows. The findings were presented by Mark Bolinger, research scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at LBNL, during a webinar focused on trends in deployment, cost, performance, pricing, and market value for utility-scale wind and solar.
A Decade or More of Phenomenal Growth
Bolinger noted that from 2006 to 2019 wind power capacity operating on the U.S. grid had grown by nearly an order of magnitude—from 11.5 GW to 106 GW. The percentage increase in utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, which researchers define as ground-mounted systems with capacities greater than 5 MWAC, has been even greater, increasing from 1.7 GW in 2012 to 29 GW at the end of 2019.…
OREGON’S JOB GROWTH SLOWS TO 5100 IN SEPTEMBER – kqennewsradio.com
OREGON’S JOB GROWTH SLOWS TO 5100 IN SEPTEMBER kqennewsradio.com
“job” – Google News…
Reduced Cost for Renewables Supports Sector Growth
The post Reduced Cost for Renewables Supports Sector Growth appeared first on POWER Magazine.
A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows costs for renewable power are increasingly cheaper than those for generation from coal, reinforcing the trend of increased investment in solar and wind power and away from fossil fuel-powered electricity production.
The IRENA report—Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019—showed that more than half of the new renewable energy generation capacity added worldwide last year operated at a lower cost than even the least-expensive new coal-fired power plants. Its findings echoed the sentiments of several U.S. renewable energy advocates who participated in an online panel discussion Tuesday organized by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and attended by POWER.
The report, released June 2, said recent power auction results show the trend of cheaper solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind power is accelerating, putting more economic pressure on coal plants, and “reinforcing the case to phase-out coal entirely.”…