The International Energy Agency (IEA) has just published what it is calling the first comprehensive roadmap for transitioning the world to a net zero energy system by 2050. Turns out, it's only going to take a complete overhaul of pretty much everything to hit this important target. We are going to need to start investing some $820 billion each year (starting in 2030) on our electrical grids to support the electrification of the global economy. 90% of electricity generation is going to need to come from renewables, with 70% likely coming from solar PV and wind alone. 60% of global car sales will need to be electric by 2030. We'll need to completely halt the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. And by 2040, we will need to have retrofitted at least half of our existing building stock.
Make no little plans. For a copy of the report, click here.
The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority recently completed a 350 MW solar tender. They received a total of 6 bids and the low bidder was Japan’s Marubeni Corp and China’s JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd. Their bid was USD $24.2 per MWh or 2.42 cents per KWh.
This is really low.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average cost of a new natural gas-fired plant is 5.6 cents per KWh. More than double the above solar bid.
In fact, author, blogger and futurist Ramez Naam calls the above bid, “the cheapest contract for electricity ever signed, anywhere on planet earth, using any technology.” (Blog post here.)
Huge.
Now, Abu Dhabi is obviously a very sunny locale. No shortage of bluebird days there. But that doesn’t negate the fact that we are seeing a rapid decline in solar power prices.
This, along with the growing adoption of electric vehicles is excellent news for us sustainability dorks. Just this morning I was thinking to myself that the car I currently own will likely be the last gasoline-powered car I ever own.
Hopefully they start making an electric version of the G-Class.
Airbnb is a platform that connects people who have extra space with people who need space. It’s a peer-to-peer hospitality company.
Yeloha, which is a startup I just discovered today, is a peer-to-peer solar company based out of Boston.
In the same vein as Airbnb, it connect people who have extra roof space (that’s suitable for solar collection) with people who want to buy solar energy (but may not have a solar friendly roof).
Here’s an image from their website that explains how it works:
Basically, if you have a solar friendly roof, Yeloha will come and install solar panels on top of your place for free. You get to keep some of the energy that’s generated (about 1/3 apparently) which becomes a credit to your electricity bill. You are then known as a “Sun Host.”
The remaining energy gets fed back into the grid and, if you don’t have a solar friendly roof, you can purchase this excess energy, which also results in a credit to your electricity bill. The solar electricity is less expensive than the regular grid electricity. In this case, you are known as a “Sun Partner.”
I think this is a pretty neat idea. Neither party has to pay anything upfront. Both parties save money. And the result is more solar through a distributed and virtual net metering setup.
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