.. a good news post @ Climate Central by By Michael Safi, via The Guardian | May 13th, 2017
Wholesale solar power prices have reached another record low in India, faster than analysts predicted and further undercutting the price of fossil fuel-generated power in the country.
The tumbling price of solar energy also increases the likelihood that India will meet — and by its own predictions, exceed — the renewable energy targets it set at the Paris climate accords in December 2015.
..solar generated energy is continuing to undercut the price of fossil fuels..
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According to reports from the Guardian, India is the world’s third-largest carbon polluter with a future looking like that figure may double..
...but there is also good news on the horizon:
At a reverse auction in Rajasthan on Tuesday, power companies Phelan Energy and Avaada Power each offered to charge 2.62 rupees per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity generated from solar panels they hope to build at an energy park in the desert state. Last year’s previous record lowest bid was 4.34 rupees per kWh.
Analysts called the 40 percent price drop “world historic” and said it was driven by cheaper finance and growing investor confidence in India’s pledge to dramatically increase its renewable energy capacity.
— emphasis added
This is a straight forward non-nonsense example of why RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standards) @ the federal, state and local level in addition to building guidelines like LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design are so important — they work ! :
Tim Buckley, a director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said the most important factor driving a rush of international investment in Indian renewables was the “transparency, longevity and certainty” of the country’s energy policy.
— emphasis added
From the report:
By 2022, India aims to have the capacity to generate 175 gigawatts of power from solar, biomass and wind energy. A draft report by the country’s electricity agency in December predicted that capacity would increase to 275 gigawatts by 2027.
The same draft report said it was unlikely India would need any new coal power stations for at least 10 years, beyond the 50 gigawatts of projects already in the pipeline.
..and maybe before 10 years, zero new coal powered stations will be needed if this trend accelerates (?)
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— so just a quick note of excellent progress going on in other parts of the world :)