Solar News Sacramento California – The price of nuclear and conventional fossil fuel has been rising for some time while the cost of solar has been dramatically decreasing. Well it has finally happened. According to new aggregator, solar now is cheaper per kW than nuclear power. Energy generation in the future will look much different than the grid energy of today. A combination of renewable energy technologies; solar, wind and Geo-thermal systems can be integrated into grid management. Dynamic technical developments are slowly picking up speed and we are on the crest of a new horizon with solar as the star player. Small decentralized solar generators have significantly lower distribution losses and can be brought on line very quickly. Read More –
Sacramento Bee
By KATY RANK LEV
Mother Nature Network
According to news aggregator Energy Collective, a historic era is upon us because solar power has become affordable. More specifically, solar power has become cheaper than nuclear power.
The article sites researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, who found that the cost of “producing photovoltaic solar cells has been dropping for years, at the same time, estimated costs for building new nuclear power plants have ballooned.” Thus, it’s cheaper to put solar panels on houses than to build a new nuclear power plant to service them.
According to the article, this is a crossover moment because the researchers haven’t even considered other pros and cons of solar power, including that North Carolina is not a “sun-rich” state. Other states with more sunshine could see more cost savings. The article also references an up-and-coming trend in solar power called concentrating solar power or CSP. According to the story, CSP “promises utility scale production and solar thermal storage.” This means that even after sunset, CSP-fitted homes can generate electricity.
The story lists the crossover price point at about 16 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). This year, in North Carolina, the price of one kWh of electricity from solar energy fell below this point for the first time. Some solar developers offer electricity from solar energy at 14 cents per kWh and predict that this price will continue to drop.
The article ends by emphasizing how important it is to have an energy source that’s more affordable than nuclear power like solar, especially given the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a climate and energy bill this year. Since both nuclear and solar power are subsidized by the government, the author points out that “taxpayers now bear the burden of putting carbon into the atmosphere through a variety of hidden charges.”
One utility stands out in the charge for renewable solar energy. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is a beacon of hope for solar. With forward thinking management the costs of electricity in Sacramento will remain lower than the state average. For good search engine marketing visit this site.