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Solar Economies of Scale (Update)
In drafts of ILSR's forthcoming report on a distributed generation future (check back June 22!), I took some flak for my solar PV economies of scale analysis. In it, I used data from the California...
View ArticleSolar Diseconomies of Scale
PV projects, which ranged in size from 1-kilowatt residential installations to 48-megawatt power plants, have much shorter planning horizons and project completion times, along with lesser siting,...
View ArticleSolar PV Has an Speed Edge on Concentrating Solar Thermal
CSP represents over 6,000 MW of the over 15,000 MW of future solar projects that SEPA is tracking, but there are differences in project development between CSP and PV. PV can be built and sub-sections...
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Lost in Transmission
Update 7/26: One commenter asserts that the loss figures offered by the original author may be relevant in India, but do not reflect the U.S. grid, where losses total around 7%. EIA data seems to...
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In Wind Power, is Bigger Better?
Update October 2012: The 2011 Wind Technologies Market Report shows weak, but consistent economies of scale in wind power projects. It seems obvious: every extra turbine in a wind farm comes at a lower...
View ArticleClean, Local Power for Kentucky
In August 2011, ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell gave this presentation to a group of rural utilities and environmental organizations in Kentucky. The slides illustrate the enormous renewable...
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Solar PV Economies of Scale Improve in 2010
Installed costs for solar PV have dropped and economies of scale improved significantly in 2010, opening the door for much more cost-competitive distributed solar power. The data comes from the 4th...
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Utility Solar May Cost Less, But It’s Also Worth Less
A new report released this week asserts that utility-scale solar is much more economical than small-scale solar. The clear implication is that we should let incumbent utilities build or buy solar from...
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Small-Scale Solar Contributes 13% of New Power Plant Capacity in 2014
The growth of solar has continued at a furious pace, with a new record of 6.2 gigawatts installed in the United States in 2014. But the bigger tale may be the persistent growth of small-scale solar, on...
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Beyond Utility 2.0: Part 2 “The Present”
Aggressive state policy and cost reductions for clean energy have created two business model crises for electric utilities: stagnant sales and exponentially rising production from distributed renewable...
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Why (Else) is Xcel Energy Trying to Axe Minnesota’s Community Solar program?
In a filing Tuesday (April 28), Minnesota’s largest electric utility announced unilateral action within the next 30 days to reduce development under the state’s community solar gardens program by 80%,...
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Beyond Utility 2.0: Part 3 “The Future”
Unfortunately for utilities, new technology and commercial opportunities in the coming years will only increase the threat to the 1.0 business model. Solar energy is growing exponentially as costs have...
View ArticleThe Hole in Brian Potts’ WSJ Critique of the “Solar-Panel Craze.”
In his Sunday Wall Street Journal commentary on May 17, Brian Potts suggests that cost is the bottom line in the electric customer shift to solar, and that rooftop solar costs too much. But his defense...
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Public Rooftop Revolution Report
There are a lot of stories on residential rooftop solar but few if any on what cities are doing to make themselves energy self-reliant by using their own buildings and lands to generate power. In...
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Public Rooftop Revolution Report: Part 3, “The Featured Five”
There are a lot of stories on residential rooftop solar but few if any on what cities are doing to make themselves energy self-reliant by using their own buildings and lands to generate power. In...
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Video: Is Bigger Best in Renewable Energy? Webinar
On December 5th, John Farrell delivered a webinar presentation detailing the findings of our recent report, Is Bigger Best in Renewable Energy? In this presentation, Farrell discusses how conventional...
View ArticleSmall-Scale Solar Contributes 13% of New Power Plant Capacity in 2014
The growth of solar has continued at a furious pace, with a new record of 6.2 gigawatts installed in the United States in 2014. But the bigger tale may be the persistent growth of small-scale solar, on...
View ArticleBeyond Utility 2.0: Part 2 “The Present”
Aggressive state policy and cost reductions for clean energy have created two business model crises for electric utilities: stagnant sales and exponentially rising production from distributed renewable...
View ArticleWhy (Else) is Xcel Energy Trying to Axe Minnesota’s Community Solar program?
In a filing Tuesday (April 28), Minnesota’s largest electric utility announced unilateral action within the next 30 days to reduce development under the state’s community solar gardens program by 80%,...
View ArticleBeyond Utility 2.0: Part 3 “The Future”
Unfortunately for utilities, new technology and commercial opportunities in the coming years will only increase the threat to the 1.0 business model. Solar energy is growing exponentially as costs have...
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