For the year 2018, solar energy could be economically viable for offer energy supply to large cities and by 2040 half of all electricity would be generated in the same place that it is used. The end for coal power ever closer.
From The Guardian comes an interesting information on how for the first time in memory, the price of electricity in the state of Queensland in Australia it fell negative throughout the middle of the day. When it is typically around $ 40-50 a megawatt, it dropped to around zero. Prices were falling throughout the week, due to the influence of one of the newest and largest power stations in the state: solar panels.
The reduction in the price per kilowatt usually happens at night, when the majority of the population is mostly sleeping, demand is low and coal-based generators are often shut down. This is not something that usually happens at noon, since prices at this time tend to reflect higher demand when people are active, offices are in full use and factories are producing. This time of day is when fossil fuel-based generators would normally get the most economic benefit.
The emergence of solar panels has re-emerged with 1,100MV in more than 350000 buildings in Queensland, producing electricity at the time coal generators were running just as the sun was setting. The impact it has had has been so important and prices have fallen so much that only a few coal-based power generators have made a profit in the past year.
Tony Abbot, Prime Minister, likes to say that Australia is a land of cheap energy, which is partly true, as it does not cost much to take a shovel of coal and put it in a boiler to generate electricity. The problem for Australians is the cost of getting those electrons through the networks distribution coupled with taxes.
This cost is carrying for homeowners to definitely buy solar panels which is leading to the fact that by the years 2023 and 2024 90% of businesses and 75% of homes would have this type of energy.
The fact is that if it were to reach a point that the price of electricity itself fell to zero and remained that way, the benefits would pass to consumers, doubting in this sense if coal-based energy could really compete against this energy model. And as things are now, at least in Australia it would be impossible, since coal could never be free.
Right now the different companies that supply solar panels are allowing customers to install as many as they want As long as they do not return the extra they may have to the electricity grid. So they have little incentive to resell that energy surplus, getting them to finally choose to install storage batteries to safeguard that extra energy that they receive for free from the sun.
Y, the only step left is to disconnect permanently from the power grid. In remote areas it may make sense, as the cost of getting the power to it is quite expensive. What scares those who make a living from coal-based energy the most is that this energy equation could be economically viable for large cities, and for even 2018 it could become a reality, according to the investment firm UBS.
to 2014 there could be a 40% reduction in consumers who would be removed from the main electrical network, becoming a milestone for large cities and for a large country such as Australia.