... the largest company in the U.S., G.E., projects that solar power will be competitive with fossil fuel generation within 3 to 5 years and one of world's largest oil and gas giants, Total S.A., spends almost 1 1/2 billion dollars on acquiring a majority stake in a U.S. solar company.
While the corrupt Republican knuckledraggers are fond of their "Drill, baby, drill!" mantra, the vast improvements in solar power technologies and the massive drop in solar power system prices makes it unequivocally clear that the chant for the 21st century should be "Shine, baby, shine!"
When even the French oil giant, Total S.A., sees the writing on the wall, and acquires a majority stake in the U.S. solar module manufacturer, Sunpower, then it's high time for the American voter to kick the corrupt fossil fuel lovin' Republicans out of Congress and replace them with representatives who are willing and able to keep up with the times.
Total's SunPower bid adds shine to solar M&A
By Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT | Fri Apr 29, 2011
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - French energy major Total SA's landmark $1.37 billion offer for a majority stake in U.S. company SunPower Corp gave fresh impetus to hopes of more deals, lifting global solar stocks.
Total's move is one of the biggest ever by an oil and gas giant into the market for renewable energy, which has seen a resurgence of interest following the nuclear crisis at Japan's Fukushima power plant caused by last month's earthquake and tsunami.
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Total late said on Thursday it would launch a tender offer for up to 60 percent of SunPower's outstanding Class A common shares and 60 percent of its Class B common shares for $23.25 a share.
This represents a premium of more than 44 percent to SunPower's Class A closing share price of $16.12 on Thursday. The stock soared in Friday trading and was up 34 percent at $21.62 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
http://www.reuters.com/...
This purchase by Total S.A. is, in itself, a very strong indicator that solar power will be seeing an unprecedented boom in the next decade. But instead of relying on a single indicator, let's see what the largest company in the U.S., G.E., has to say about the prospects of solar power. Zachary Shahan over at Cleantechnica provides the scoop on that and goes deeper into the details of falling solar power costs:
GE: Solar Power Cheaper than Fossil Fuels in 5 Years.
Zachary Shahan
May 29, 2011
I reported a month and a half ago here on CleanTechnica that renewable energy passed up nuclear in total installed power capacity in 2010 (worldwide) and has been adding much more power to the world’s supply for years. I’ve also written about the clean economic of renewables compared to nuclear or fossil fuels like coal a number of times. Now, GE predicts another important milestone along these lines in the coming years.
“Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. (GE),” Bloomberg reports.
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Bloomberg goes on to note the following:
“The cost of solar cells, the main component in standard panels, has fallen 21 percent so far this year, and the cost of solar power is now about the same as the rate utilities charge for conventional power in the sunniest parts of California, Italy and Turkey….”
http://cleantechnica.com/...
As Zachary illustrates, solar power already is cost competitive with new nuclear in many cases and has reached grid parity in some parts of the world. And when one considers that many solar power plants will likely last far longer than the generally projected run time of 20 years, then they already are past grid parity in those regions, ie. solar power from your roof will cost you less than electricity from your electricity provider.
In keeping with their 20th century big energy knuckledragger philosophy, Republicans respond to these stunning developments by filibustering the Democratic bill to repeal oil subsidies:
Republicans Filibuster Bill To Repeal Oil Subsidies
Brian Beutler | May 17, 2011
As expected, a Democratic bill that would have stripped big oil companies of multi-billion annual tax subsidies failed to overcome a Republican filibuster Tuesday evening. The heavily partisan 52-48 vote fell well short of the 60 required to achieve cloture. Three Democrats -- Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Mark Begich (D-AK), and Ben Nelson (D-NE) -- voted with Republicans to maintain the subsidies. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted with the Democrats.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The Obama Administration, on the other hand, continues to pursue the strategy of making renewables so cheap that even the fossil fuel industry and their Republican henchmen can't continue to block the large scale implementation of renewable energy:
Department of Energy seeks to cut solar costs by 75 percent
NEW YORK | Fri Feb 4, 2011 2:37pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it will spend $27 million on a new effort to reduce the costs of solar power by 75 percent by the end of the decade in a bid to make the renewable power source as cheap as fossil fuels.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu dubbed the program a "sun shot" that was patterned on President John F. Kennedy's "moon shot" goal in the 1960s that called for the United States to land a man on the moon.
Chu said cutting the cost of installed solar power by 75 percent would put the price at about $1 per watt, he said, or about 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
"That would make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies of any kind," he told a conference call.
snip
Costs for solar modules, which make up about half the total price of the systems, have dropped sharply in the past five years as manufacturers dramatically increased output to meet rising global demand.
About 1,000 MW of solar panels are estimated to have been installed in the United States last year, double the 2009 level, but solar still contributes less than 1 percent of the total U.S. electricity output.
http://www.reuters.com/...
A 6 cent/kwh price for solar power would pretty much guarantee that not a single coal or nuclear power plant would be built anymore in the U.S., and it would lead to a veritable boom in electric cars. No Republican filibuster and no fossil fuel industry lobbying would be able to change that equation.
Understandably, this worries certain people, specifically the Saudi oil prince who is also a major Faux News shareholder:
Saudi Prince (who backs Fox News): “We Don’t Want The West To Go Find Alternatives” To Oil
By Joe Romm on Jun 1
snip
http://youtu.be/...
BIN TALAL: The stiff position of Saudi Arabia, we want the price to be between $70 and $80. Not only to help the West, but also to help ourselves. We don’t want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price oil goes, the more you have incentive to go and find alternatives. So, really, our interest coincides with American interest, to have the price for around $70, $80 which is a price good for consumers and producers.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
So the Saudis have (inadvertantly) laid their cards on the table and said that they don't want us to find alternatives to their oil. Since the Republicans also don't seem to want us to develop alternatives, it is obvious that they place the interests of Saudi oil princes over the interests of the American public.
I think I'll go a different route than the Republicans and say "Shine, baby, shine!" when I pay my electricity bills from my 100% renewables electricity provider, have a solar power system installed on the roof, and buy an electric car.
The Saudis and all the Big Oil barons don't need my money, after all, as they already have more than enough.