Solar to match coal in China by 2016, threatening fossil dominance

Now this is a game changer;  Eric Luo,   the CEO of Wuxi Suntech has confidently predicted that cost of producing electricity from solar will match that of coal burning stations by 2016,  2017 at the latest. Now,  even allowing for the fact that Mr Luo might be talking up his own book here,  this is incredibly important for the future of solar in the global energy mix.

China burns a lot of coal.  It has lots within it’s borders and it’s a quick fix for a rapidly growing economy;  the downside is that the emissions from all those coal fired plants is poisoning it’s people.  If the price of producing energy from the sun is no greater than that from coal,  and as a bonus the air is safe to breathe,  then solar’s share of the energy mix will soar.  

This creates a positive cycle;  more demand for solar creates more capacity and prices come down.  The efficiencies of solar are still improving rapidly and innovation in storage will make this an increasingly reliable and stable energy source.

You can read the full Telegraph article here..

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100027336/solar-to-match-coal-in-china-by-2016-threatening-fossil-dominance/