While the Trump administration continues to boost dying fossil fuel industries, the rest of the world is stepping up to the true bargain of solar power.
In 2016, the record low unsubsidized solar energy price was 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour. This year, 3.6 cents is becoming the top price, with bids going lower and lower. Saudi Arabia is building a 300-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant, and every bid it received was cheaper than that—the lowest bid price was 1.79 cents per kilowatt-hour. “For context, the average residential price for electricity in the United States is more than six times that, 12 cents/kWh,” says a story on Think Progress.
Why are oil-rich states in the Middle East investing in so much solar? Because using solar has become cheaper than using the oil they’re sitting on, and it leaves them with more oil to export. According to a story from Bloomberg Markets:
Solar power is getting so cheap that even Gulf Arab states awash in crude oil are embracing the renewable resource. Their motive is as much to keep selling fossil fuels as it is to rein in their carbon emissions.
With almost 30 percent of the world’s oil reserves and some of the lowest costs of production, Arab countries in the Persian Gulf will probably rely for years to come on crude exports as a pillar of their prosperity. But improvements in solar technology mean it will be cost effective to exploit the region’s abundant sunshine instead of burning their oil and natural gas to run power plants. That could allow them to export more and boost their haul of petrodollars.
Solar power increased worldwide by about 50 percent in 2016. The greatest growth came in the U.S. and China, which alone accounted for one-half the number of solar panels installed. The International Energy Agency says solar was the fastest-growing source of new energy worldwide, a shift mainly driven by falling prices and supportive government policies.
Although the U.S. federal government is now going in the wrong direction, many states in this country are headed in the right one. The solar industry has more than quadrupled in individual states in the last five years. To no one’s surprise, the top state using solar power is California, but others on this list from Energy Sage might be surprising. What they have in common are state tax credits, creative loan programs, and (of course) abundant sunshine. Homeowners and businesses are saving money on solar installation.
Which is good. Because the money we’re spending on relief from weather disasters made worse from climate change is only going up. Way up.