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by jes 4136 days ago
Would you be willing to have a truly level playing field, where no energy technology was awarded subsidies?
2 comments
lkbm 4136 days ago
A truly level playing field would mean internalizing all externalities. If that were possible, yes, that would be ideal, but as he just noted, it's really unlikely, partly because it's enormously complex.
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fleitz 4136 days ago
That's actually just your definition of a level playing field, there is no 'true' level playing field. (Well, other than literal playing fields that are level)
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danielharan 4136 days ago
Not only would that be very difficult to do, nuclear and coal have had decades of subsidies, giving them quite an unfair head-start.

In any case, by 2017 solar will be at grid parity in most of the US. By 2020 this won't even be a topic.

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msisk6 4136 days ago
It doesn't seem possible for solar to make that much progress in that short a time.

It takes forever to get transmission capacity approved and built to areas where solar is really cost-effective and we still don't have grid-scale energy storage.

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danielharan 4135 days ago
By grid parity, I meant people would be able to save money by installing it on their rooftops.

As for utility-scale, it's also smashing records, but that's a different discussion. $6c/kWh in UAE was a figure that surprised a lot of observers.

Regarding storage... solar coincides very well with peak A/C load, so the main use case doesn't require it.

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