Dude, 10 years ago was 2016… We’ve had affordable, consumer grade solar since the 90s at least. I don’t think people were questioning the viability of solar in 2016.
We’ve had affordable, consumer grade solar since the 90s at least.
I’d hardly call the 1998 average of $12/W affordable. It was possible, but not practical.
I don’t think people were questioning the viability of solar in 2016.
Even in the mid-'10s, solar instillation were something of a luxury and - thanks to the high cost of batteries - only practical for deferring daytime electricity consumption. The root of the Solyndra scandal was Obama pushing a domestic solar manufacturer as an alternative to Chinese solar imports (which were, themselves, far more expensive than they should be thanks to steep US tarriffs imposed in 2014)
I don’t think anyone was questioning solar viability. But we were still talking about break-even prices on a 5-10 year horizon, heavily predicated on electricity costs outpacing inflation. As a hedge against periodic brownouts or price spikes during a heat wave, it was useful. Now the materials are a third the price and the number of installers has surged to accommodate rising demand. It’s just a much better deal.
I remember hearing this about solar power ten years ago. And electric cars. And cloud computing, even.
It was never going to be economically viable. Always ten years away from viability. Not competitive with whatever the industry leader was at the time.
Really putting all your chips on “nothing ever changes”
Dude, 10 years ago was 2016… We’ve had affordable, consumer grade solar since the 90s at least. I don’t think people were questioning the viability of solar in 2016.
I’d hardly call the 1998 average of $12/W affordable. It was possible, but not practical.
Even in the mid-'10s, solar instillation were something of a luxury and - thanks to the high cost of batteries - only practical for deferring daytime electricity consumption. The root of the Solyndra scandal was Obama pushing a domestic solar manufacturer as an alternative to Chinese solar imports (which were, themselves, far more expensive than they should be thanks to steep US tarriffs imposed in 2014)
I don’t think anyone was questioning solar viability. But we were still talking about break-even prices on a 5-10 year horizon, heavily predicated on electricity costs outpacing inflation. As a hedge against periodic brownouts or price spikes during a heat wave, it was useful. Now the materials are a third the price and the number of installers has surged to accommodate rising demand. It’s just a much better deal.
To be fair there was and is huge push back against EVs, the US is setting itself back a couple centuries just to not admit it is viable.
Ten years ago Swanson’s law for solar photovoltaics was well established, not comparable.
“It’s only sunny during the day” is a line uttered ad nauseum by people who didn’t see lithium batteries falling through the same price drop.
You’re so dense you could fuse hydrogen.
What a low quality joke. The humor was bad too.