The issue here seems to be regulations & you may not have considered BESS (battery storage). The marginal cost of a unit of renewable power is zero. A progressive “net metering” policy (renewable power supplied to the grid at the same price as power is purchased) with a sensible banking charge for using grid infrastructure will make sense when viewed over a 20-25 year horizon. And the cost of battery storage has been declining steadily and isn’t far away from grid parity. So “off grid” renewable energy plants are not far away.
Ha. California has had higher power prices since the early 2000's, before any widespread use of solar or wind. The primary impetus of this increase was--wait for it--deregulation of the electric power generation in the late 90's, which was infamously gamed in 2001--until Jim Jeffords switched parties and the Senate went to Democratic control and hearings could be threatened. The legacy contracts signed then created a huge cost increase. As far as reliability, as batteries have come in there are no longer any summertime shortages, as there were even several years ago. While under 3% of total generating capacity is solaIn 2026, solar and wind power account for about 65% of new installations in the US (or 99% when combined with battery storage). And consider that Texas, hardly a bastion of "woke", has the largest wind generation in the US. While a transition to cleaner power will take decades, it is occurring right now and will continue, not because of top down mandates but due to market forces.
Great piece. Very informative.
Geothermal energy has being a promise since 1920 and none of it iteriorations have panned out
The issue here seems to be regulations & you may not have considered BESS (battery storage). The marginal cost of a unit of renewable power is zero. A progressive “net metering” policy (renewable power supplied to the grid at the same price as power is purchased) with a sensible banking charge for using grid infrastructure will make sense when viewed over a 20-25 year horizon. And the cost of battery storage has been declining steadily and isn’t far away from grid parity. So “off grid” renewable energy plants are not far away.
Ha. California has had higher power prices since the early 2000's, before any widespread use of solar or wind. The primary impetus of this increase was--wait for it--deregulation of the electric power generation in the late 90's, which was infamously gamed in 2001--until Jim Jeffords switched parties and the Senate went to Democratic control and hearings could be threatened. The legacy contracts signed then created a huge cost increase. As far as reliability, as batteries have come in there are no longer any summertime shortages, as there were even several years ago. While under 3% of total generating capacity is solaIn 2026, solar and wind power account for about 65% of new installations in the US (or 99% when combined with battery storage). And consider that Texas, hardly a bastion of "woke", has the largest wind generation in the US. While a transition to cleaner power will take decades, it is occurring right now and will continue, not because of top down mandates but due to market forces.