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I got a tour of the Mission Solar factory in San Antonio a few weeks ago. They actually have a full fab at the factory where they can make their own cells but they shut it down and import them from China because it's cheaper... I think they got an exemption from the tariffs. China invested so much in PV manufacturing that they can just make everything significantly cheaper.
Yes, building modules in the US from foreign cells is relatively common. In fact, I believe the Motech panels I have are like that, made in 2012. However, the Gigafactory situation is almost exactly the opposite. The cells are made in USA and because of a tariff loophole, the modules can be made overseas and then imported without tariff. That's a lot of shipping for an assembly process that's usually highly automated.
 
Scientists see global PV rocketing to 10 terawatts by 2030, for starters

A Science journal article describes how to reach “a future with ~10 terawatts of PV by 2030 and 30 to 70 terawatts by 2050, providing a majority of global energy.”

Forty-five scientists and industry leaders envision global PV capacity soaring from 500 GW now to 20 times that amount by 2030, through 30% average annual growth in PV deployments.

“A growing body of research,” says the paper, “concludes that decarbonization of electricity followed by electrification of almost all parts of the energy system is a least-cost pathway for a low-carbon sustainable energy system.”
 
How corporates are leading the 100% renewable energy transition

An historic new report from Energy Watch shows that we can reach 100% renewable energy in just a few decades, and it’s affordable; making this the clear answer to tackling climate change.

But more importantly, perhaps is the fact that this transition to 100% renewables is already happening – and it’s the corporate world that’s leading the charge.

With the economic and social imperatives of addressing climate change increasingly compelling, a growing number of companies are de-risking their operations by shifting away from increasingly volatile fossil fuels, providing hope that this can (and will) become mainstream
 
Not sure if you posed this topic already, but some fascinating things going on in Texas shale.

Solar is going to keep oil flowing in the Texas shale patch

In short.....frackers, who are obviously highly incentivized to support gas rather than solar, are looking to solar for their power needs in Texas. This kind of activity in one of our most open energy markets should be a glaring and irrefutable indication of solar superiority. I mean....if anyone was gonna build a gas plant, you'd think it's be the guys fracking the gas in the region where negative pricing should be around for a while.
 
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https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-batteries-renewable-energy-california-20190605-story.html

In a study published in March, New York-based researchers Richard Perez and Karl Rábago argue that solar power has gotten so inexpensive that overbuilding it will probably be the cheapest way to keep the lights on during cloudy or overcast days — cheaper than relying entirely on batteries. Solar power can meet high levels of daytime electricity demand without energy storage, the researchers say, as long as there are enough solar panels on the grid during times when none of them are producing at full capacity.

“It’s not like solar is going to be available all the time,” said Perez, a solar energy expert at the State University of New York at Albany. “At night you will need storage, and on cloudy days you will need storage. But you will need much less of it.”​

Based on this paper:

Solar Energy Journal study
 
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https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-batteries-renewable-energy-california-20190605-story.html

In a study published in March, New York-based researchers Richard Perez and Karl Rábago argue that solar power has gotten so inexpensive that overbuilding it will probably be the cheapest way to keep the lights on during cloudy or overcast days — cheaper than relying entirely on batteries. Solar power can meet high levels of daytime electricity demand without energy storage, the researchers say, as long as there are enough solar panels on the grid during times when none of them are producing at full capacity.

“It’s not like solar is going to be available all the time,” said Perez, a solar energy expert at the State University of New York at Albany. “At night you will need storage, and on cloudy days you will need storage. But you will need much less of it.”​

Based on this paper:

Solar Energy Journal study
If solar was the only clean energy source I would find the argument more convincing.
 
If solar was the only clean energy source I would find the argument more convincing.

Did they argue against other clean energy sources? Didn't seem like it to me — for example there's this in section 4 of the paper.

4. Achievable lowest-cost firm generation

Dynamic output curtailment and overbuilding, however counter- intuitive to conventional electricity system planners, can yield sig- nificant cost reductions for achieving firm generation value compared to storage-only solutions. In addition to curtailment/oversizing, two complementary solutions and strategies can further reduce the firm kWh premium: geographic dispersion and load flexibility. Furthermore, adding wind resources (or other complementary clean generation2) can exploit the uncorrelated nature of different types of variable generation and achieve even lower firm electricity generation costs.​
 
Home solar panel installations fall by 94% as subsidies cut

Home solar panel installations fall by 94% as subsidies cut

The Labour party has accused the government of “actively dismantling” the UK’s solar power industry after new installations by households collapsed by 94% last month.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, used prime minister’s questions to challenge the government’s record on climate action after scrapping subsidies for domestic solar panels from April.

Theresa May had intended to confront Donald Trump about his views on climate breakdown during his state visit this week. “But with her government actively dismantling the UK solar industry it is unclear who has the most to teach the other about climate change denial,” Long-Bailey said.
 
Home solar panel installations fall by 94% as subsidies cut

Home solar panel installations fall by 94% as subsidies cut
Why do they insist on referring to feed in tariffs is a "subsidy". It very likely saving ratepayers money.

This is a big part of the problem. It's bad enough we have legacy fossil entities spreading disinformation, we don't need the press being unclear about costs. Take 90 minutes to do the research and understand it.
 
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Why do they insist on referring to feed in tariffs is a "subsidy". It very likely saving ratepayers money.

This is a big part of the problem. It's bad enough we have legacy fossil entities spreading disinformation, we don't need the press being unclear about costs. Take 90 minutes to do the research and understand it.
In some areas, like Germany and Australia, years ago, the Feed-In Tariff was higher than retail consumption. That is clearly a subsidy. However, even those areas have swung the other way and FIT rates are now well below retail consumption rates.

The situation in the UK is bad right now because for the time being, they're not giving any reimbursement at all for energy fed into the grid from home solar.
 
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The situation in the UK is bad right now because for the time being, they're not giving any reimbursement at all for energy fed into the grid from home solar.
Exactly. Removing a feed in tariff isn't losing a subsidy, it's direct theft from the array owner since ~70% of their production is flowing to the grid, not even being transmitted past the transformer, and being sold to a neighbor at retail.

I will never understand why people in this circumstance(like various states in the US) don't riot in the streets.
 
UK about face on solar
New rules give households right to sell solar power back to energy firms

New rules give households right to sell solar power back to energy firms

Britain’s biggest energy companies will have to buy renewable energy from their own customers under new laws to be introduced this week.

Homeowners who install new rooftop solar panels from 1 January 2020 will be able to lower their bills by selling the energy they do not need to their supplier.

Some 800,000 householders with solar panels already benefit from payments under a previous scheme. However, the subsidies were controversially scrapped by the government in April, causing the number of new installations to fall by 94% in May from the month before.
 
More effective funding needed for African mini-grids, say investors

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that up to 200,000 mini-grids are required, with the potential to meet the energy needs of 450 million people, most of them in Africa. Mini-grids and other decentralized renewable solutions are the lowest-cost option for bringing electricity to three-quarters of the global population living without energy access.
 
Power to the people: how Spanish cities took control of energy

Power to the people: how Spanish cities took control of energy

Cádiz and Barcelona have set themselves up as distributors, cutting out the middle man, and have begun installing solar panels on public buildings with the aim of becoming self-sufficient.

“Energy policy should be in the hands of the people,” González said. “In Cádiz we set up two permanent citizens’ energy forums and the people have been the driving force behind the improvements we have carried out. The people of Cádiz are the motor of energy transition.”
About 40% of Andalucía’s power is produced by renewables, from windfarms and vast solar arrays such as those at San Roque, whose 67,000 panels rotate to follow the sun, and the innovative PS10 plant near Seville.
 
Solar more reliable than coal and NG

Coal and gas red-flagged on reliability; solar doing fine

In this year’s annual report on grid reliability, coal- and gas-fired generators were in the hot seat for poor performance and availability in 2018, as graded by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Conversely, countering old beliefs that solar was incapable of providing frequency support when needed, the report says “there were frequency response improvements in all interconnections across North America.”
 
https://thinkprogress.org/europe-wi...ered-in-two-decades-experts-say-8db3e7190bb7/

The myth that a very high level of renewables can’t be integrated into the electric grid is being demolished by the clean tech and battery storage revolution.

“By 2040, renewables make up 90% of the electricity mix in Europe, with wind and solar accounting for 80%,” predict the experts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in their annual energy outlook released this week.

“Cheap renewable energy and batteries fundamentally reshape the electricity system,” explains BNEF. Since 2010, wind power globally has dropped 49% in cost. Both solar and battery prices have plummeted 85%.