Renewable energy is now cheap—what’s next? - Ars Technica
Renewable energy is now cheap-what’s next? | Ars Technica
A decade ago, our present renewable energy situation was unimaginable. Most projections had wind and solar as niche players on the electric grid due to their relatively high cost. In the US, the reality is anything but. Combined, wind and solar have now passed coal; throw in hydro, and they've passed nuclear, too. In most areas of the country, they're now far and away the cheapest means to generate electricity; the same holds true for most locations around the world.
Despite the changed economics, most countries have fallen behind on their climate pledges, and fossil fuels aren't being pushed off the grid fast enough to get us back on track. While the entire globe is suffering the consequences of climate change, the factors that are keeping renewables from reaching their full potential vary from country to country. What should we be doing to get past these roadblocks?
Today, I'll be at the United Nations with the chance to get some answers to that question. The UN, as part of its General Assembly meeting, is hosting a series of events called Climate Week, which includes a Sustainable Development Goals Summit. Associated with that will be a series of talks and panels on relevant topics. I'll be hosting one called "Clean Energy Trends to Power the World" that will happen at 2:25 pm Eastern Time.
One of the people I'm hoping to get answers from is Wangari Muchiri, an engineer who's the director of Africa at the Global Wind Energy Council. She's well-placed to discuss the challenges facing renewables in developing economies. She'll be joined by Bruce Douglas, who started studying renewable energy long before renewables were cheap and is now the CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance. Together, I hope they'll provide a clearer picture of how the world can take advantage of the new economic reality renewables have created and minimize the climate impacts of generating electricity.
If you care about the answers—and, let's be clear, you probably should—you'll have the chance to watch in real time. Just start up the livestream embedded below. It will be good for any session today, so if anything in the schedule piques your interest, I encourage you to watch. And if that's not enough, you'll get to see me in a suit.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: renewables
Renewable energy sources — once the fuel of the future, then practical in specific, narrow applications — are increasingly economic mainstream sources of power generation. Hydropower was long the mainstay of U.S. renewable electricity generation, although wind power surpassed hydro for the first time in 2019, and solar continues its rapid growth. The continued growth of wind and solar, with their fluctuations, is tied in part to improvements in storage technology: batteries.