Many of the things that arguably make wind and solar less than perfect energy sources don’t seem to trouble geothermal energy. Bird kills, intermittent output, low capacity factors, lack of dispatchability – no issues there with geothermal. Yet while wind and solar have sprinted forward in the past decade in the United States, geothermal has by comparison stood still.… Keep reading →
Levelized costs don’t tell the whole story about competitiveness. But they provide a helpful guide for where clean energy is headed. Renewables in the electricity sector are undoubtedly getting cheaper. But exactly how cheap compared to conventional fuels? If using the common levelized cost of energy (LCOE) metric, renewables are actually starting to rival fossil… Keep reading →
The concept of grid parity is the following: the point at which the cost of producing electricity from an energy source is less than or equal to the price of purchasing power from the grid. In theory, when solar energy reaches grid parity it will be cost-competitive with conventional fuels, making it viable for widespread… Keep reading →
It’s just one energy sector watcher weighing in, but Lux Research does have pretty good credentials, so we’ll run with it, leading with their headline: “Solar to Become Competitive with Natural Gas by 2025.” So says the Boston-based consultancy in an eyebrow-raising analysis that adopts the view that, for now, cheap natural gas can be a… Keep reading →
