Solar Power Generation Debate

Can we'make solar energy economical'?

We could question growth in energy production, economy, and population. All of these initiatives are left under-represented as we unwittingly rush to celebrate energy firms who are building the next round of ecological disaster machines. One of the Grand Challenges for Engineering is to ‘make solar energy economical’.

Should distributed generation be compensated for Customer-Sited solar?

Conflicts over the value of distributed generation have played out in numerous states, largely in the context of solar advocates and utilities squabbling over the price at which customer-sited solar should be compensated.

Are solar photovoltaics ready to power a sustainable future?

Nat. Energy 3, 515–527 (2018). Victoria, M. et al. Solar photovoltaics is ready to power a sustainable future. Joule vol. 5 1041–1056 (Cell Press, 2021). Nemet, G. How solar energy became cheap: a model for low-carbon innovation. (Taylor & Francis, 2019). Rogers, E. Diffusion of Innovations. (Free Press, 2003). Farmer, J. D. & Lafond, F.

Is solar power a 'tremendous' opportunity?

Ms Ryan said solar power was a "tremendous" opportunity for the energy system because it was so cheap and Australia was so sunny. But she acknowledged in WA "it comes with challenges, like when the cloud cover comes over, and might very quickly reduce the amount of rooftop solar being generated".

Could solar power be cheaper than business-as-usual energy planning?

The results indicate that building out distributed solar and energy storage resources in combination with large-scale renewables projects yields a clean-powered grid that's $88 billion cheaper than business-as-usual electricity planning through midcentury.