The Solar Industry Is Slowly Replacing Big Coal
The future of the world is bright. As bright as the sun, you might say. Over the last few years, something interesting has been happening in Australia: The country has been slowly shifting from depending on coal for power, to solar produced energies. This has sparked (sorry for the pun) a question: Is solar power finally ready to take over?
According to The Guardian, last month, the price of electricity in Queensland (the second largest city in the land down under) — normally about $40 a megawhatt hour — dropped to nothing. Zero. Not a cent. This wouldn't be much news if it was during the middle of the night, because electricity prices often drop during this time because it isn't being used very much. But this time, it happened around noon. The reason for drop? The influx of solar panels and solar power conductors. The more people use solar, the worse it is for the electric companies.
"Last week, the WA Independent market Operator forecast that 75% of detached and semi detached dwellings, and 90% of commercial businesses could have rooftop solar by 2023/24, reported The Guardian journalist Giles Parkinson. "The impact on Queensland’s markets last week is one of the reasons why utilities, generators and electricity retailers in particular want to slow down the rollout of solar. Coal, of course, will never be free. And the rapid uptake of rooftop solar – dubbed the democratisation of energy – is raising the biggest challenge to the centralised model of generation since electricity systems were established more than a century ago."
Free Power at Noon
In Queensland, rooftop solar influx drove electricity prices to $0 per megawatt-hour during peak daytime demand.
The writing is on the wall: Coal is on its way out, solar is on its way in. Even a government backed report found that by 2040, more than 50 percent of electricity will be solar powered, and if electricity companies don't start lowering prices, they can expect to lose about 40 percent of their consumers.
Speaking of governments, the United States is on the solar panel bandwagon as well. In fact, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, in an op-ed from earlier this month, boldly declared that there were more jobs in solar than in coal. Whitehouse cited a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued in May 2013 that said there were about 80,030 jobs in the coal-mining industry, compared to 142,698 in the solar power industry. People will go where there are jobs, and that will only cause more solar products. With more products, you get more adoption. You get the picture.
Solar Jobs Boom
US solar industry employs 142,698, nearly double the 80,030 jobs in coal mining.
Of course, none of this is going to sit well with the coal industry, which you know, sort of created our modern society. They have lobbyists and plenty of cash to throw at the cause. But they're fighting the unstoppable power of the sun. It won't be long before they get burned.
[Image via Flickr - Mike Linksayer]
