Unless of course, Carbon-based Energy continues to price itself out of the Goldilocks "affordable zone."
Some Companies aren't waiting for consumer markets to wake up and take their inevitable course -- they are forging ahead with some ambitious Carbon-free goals ... for when they do, bother to wake up.
[...]
AGL [Energy Ltd.] will build the 155-megawatt project at two sites in Broken Hill and Nyngan with A$166.7 million in federal and A$64.9 million in state funds, the Sydney-based company said today in a statement. AGL doesn’t need to sell shares or take on debt to pay for the plants, Managing Director Michael Fraser said today in Sydney at a news conference.
AGL is building the nation’s largest solar power development, covering a combined area four times the size of downtown Sydney, as Australia moves toward a goal of getting at least 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade. The Nyngan plant is also expected to be the largest in the southern hemisphere, AGL said.
[...]
First Solar, the largest U.S. solar-panel manufacturer by shipments, will provide engineering and construction services for both plants, using its modules, according to the statement.
[...]
AGL, First Solar to Build Australia’s Largest Solar Project
by James Paton - Jul 30, 2013
Good for Australia for being so pro-active.
So what about the United States -- what are our Renewable-Energy goals?
Not quite sure if this where those 2020 Renewable goals come from. But it is an interesting read nonetheless. (If you have more definitive sources on the U.S. "2020 Energy Targets", please post them below.)
Mandatory renewable energy target -- wikipedia.org
A mandatory renewable energy target is a government legislated requirement on electricity retailers to source specific proportions of total electricity sales from renewable energy sources according to a fixed timeframe. The additional cost is distributed across most customers by increases in other tariffs. The cost of this measure is therefore not funded by government budgets, except for costs of establishing and monitoring the scheme and any audit and enforcement actions.
At least 67 countries, including 27 EU countries have renewable energy policy targets of some type. The EU baseline target is 20% by 2020. While the USA also has a national RET of 20%. Similarly Canada has 9 provincial RETs but no national target. Targets are typically for shares of electricity production, but some are defined as by primary energy supply, installed capacity or otherwise. [...]
Australia
In 2001 the Australian Government introduced a Mandatory Renewable Energy Target of 9,500 GWh of new generation, with the scheme running until at least 2020.[4] This represents an increase of new renewable generation of about 4% of Australia's total electricity generation and a doubling of renewable generation from 1997 levels.
An Expanded Renewable Energy Target has been passed on 20 August 2009, to ensure that renewable energy obtains a 20% share of electricity supply in Australia by 2020. To ensure this the government has committed that the MRET will increase from 9,500 gigawatt-hours to 45,000 gigawatt-hours by 2020.The scheme lasts until 2030.[5] [...]
United States
As at July 2010, 30 US states and DC have established mandatory renewable energy targets, and a further 6 have voluntary targets.[13] The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 has set a target for 36 billion US gallons (140,000,000 m3) of biofuel produced annually by 2022. Of that, 21 billion US gallons (79,000,000 m3) shall be advanced biofuels (derived from feedstock other than corn starch). Of the 21 billion US gallons (79,000,000 m3), 16 billion shall come from cellulosic ethanol. The remaining 5 billion US gallons (19,000,000 m3) shall come from biomass-based diesel and other advanced biofuels.[14] For sources other than biofuels, The United States carries no mandatory renewable energy targets although they do support the growth of renewable energy industries with subsidies, feed-in tariffs, tax exemptions, and other financial support measures.[15]
It's good to see the U.S. for being so "voluntary" pro-active, towards meeting 2020 "Renewable Energy Targets."
But it sure would be great to see some more Solar and Wind energy in the mix -- Bio-fuels are so last century.
Just ask Australia ... and China ... and most of the EU.
Just think about it. Carbon-based Energy costs just keep going up and up. While Wind- and Solar-based Energy costs just keep going down and down. It is only a matter of time -- and national priorities -- before Renewable Energy dominates the market.
From a cost perspective -- and a planetary climate perspective -- sooner is much better than later. This change is inevitable, in any rationally-based, protect-the-planet, downsize the Carbon worldview.
Just ask the world.