It costs just $33/MWh to transform daytime solar into dispatchable solar
Huge since true.
"It costs just $33/MWh to transform daytime solar into dispatchable solar"
And no, that doesn't yet account for that storied Dunkelflaute. Then again, the typical gas LCOE doesn't account for Putin's whims or other geopolitical vagaries.
Grid investment is rising fast. BloombergNEF reports record spending in 2025 of 470 to 483 billion US dollars, up 17 percent on 2024. That is the second year of double digit growth.
This reflects structural change: more renewables, electrified transport & heating + rising demand from data centres.
“And negotiators - for the love of God - should finally drop the idea that Europe should not welcome cheap Chinese solar panels, which pose little risk and make decarbonisation far cheaper.”
By @nilsredeker.bsky.social at @delorsinstitute.bsky.social
www.linkedin.com/posts/nils-r...
A BloombergNEF chart by Jenny Chase's team, showing solar build forecasts over time for selected quarters since 2011. In 2011, we only had two-year forecasts and they were flattish at 30-40GW/year; over the years, these forecasts drift upwards and generally are lower than what actually happened. In 2021 we started doing forecasts to 2030, and they were also flattish, though also hilariously drift upwards. In 2024 we expected solar build to rise from just under 600GW, to about 850GW in 2030; as of 1Q 2026, we cut this slightly in the long run.
BNEF's forecasts for solar build over time. We drastically* underpredicted what China would deploy in 2023 and 2024, and the effect of Russia invading Ukraine in 2022.
We cut forecasts in late 2025 because the long-expected cannibalization is biting hard. But now there is a new fossil fuel squeeze.
«According to one commission official, we’re witnessing “a debate between those with a more domestic portfolio who wish to protect and reshore Europe’s industrial production, and those with a more external portfolio who focus on Europe’s trading partners (…)”»
“China builds the world’s largest solar farms within a few months. In the EU, it takes years just for the project to get approved”
🔆🗄️📁🗃️🗂️
Merz proposes automatically approval for delayed permits
🔆🚧👷🦺
"While nuclear power is needed to provide power on demand round-the-clock, the first new reactor is not expected to come online until 2038, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said (...). That underscores the need for more solar and wind capacity, which can be built more quickly.."
2-to protect the overlapping mandates of Brussels and EU member states - processes get increasingly complex as instead of shifting some powers - additional coordination layers are added on-top-of-each-other.
(e.g., in grid planning - see figure from an upcoming piece)
For years, parts of European industry benefited from cheap Russian gas. Now that access is gone, some are calling for regulated or subsidised power prices.
From one dependence to another. That’s not competitiveness.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
O degrowth quer menos consumo. Se tudo correr bem, 2025 será o ano com menor consumo de eletricidade de hoje em diante
~$450bn of US energy imports over 7 years
$750bn announced for the next 3
EDF Raises Budget for New French Nuclear Plants to €73 Billion
🇫🇷⚛️
The new forecast (which excludes funding costs and uses 2020 terms) compares with a 2020 estimate of €51.7 billion that was revised up €67.4 billion two years ago
Co-Located Solar and Storage Grows 70% a Year Since 2020
🔆🔋
China and the US have hosted 95% of commissioned co-located capacity to-date
🇨🇳🇺🇸
La energía solar: la oportunidad de triunfo de la revolución industrial en España
🇪🇸 🔆
Qianjiadong Reservoir in southern Hunan, China, produces a double harvest: solar energy and yellow carp. The solar farm produces up to 80 megawatts of power while the fish forage beneath the panels. With a massive scale-up of solar and wind at home and cheap exports of the technology, China is driving a worldwide surge of renewable energy—Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Science has named the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy worldwide as the 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx
Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy www.science.org/content/arti...
Expensive infrastructure, long timelines, leveraged balance sheets. Sounds like a great business model
Governo apresenta programa de 30 milhões para reduzir incêndios com pastoreio
Megabattery instead of nuclear: One of the largest battery storage systems is being built at the former Philippsburg nuclear power plant
Italy’s Ban on China Solar Kit Lifts Auction Prices by 17%: BNEF
🇮🇹🔆
Projects turn to India & South Korea as cheapest compliant suppliers (+15 c€/W). EU components remain uncompetitive at +20–40 c€/W
Policy choices have real cost impacts
Para ilustrar um artigo sobre rede Natura, o Publico escolhe uma imagem de uma central a carvão
France updates net-zero plan, with fossil fuel phaseout
It also aims to boost electricity's share of energy consumption to 55 percent by 2050, up from 37 percent in 2023, largely through renewables.
www.france24.com/en/live-news...
A energia é uma vantagem competitiva de Portugal
www.jornaldenegocios.pt/negocios-ini...
Italy awards solar capacity in first 'Not made in China' auction
🇮🇹🔆
The tariff is 17% higher than the average price for a renewable auction earlier this year that had no restrictions on equipment origin
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
O novo @solarpowereu.bsky.social Solar Market Outlook 2025-2030 confirma: Portugal não está no rumo certo para cumprir a meta solar de 2030.
🇵🇹🔆
www.linkedin.com/posts/fbeira...
Current electricity market prices a problem for France's EDF, Fitch says
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
If Europe wants to stay on track for 2030, the unglamorous work of implementing the RED becomes decisive. In 12 months, 100 GW of solar projects disappeared from the outlook! In the best case, they are just delayed. In the worst, they are cancelled!
www.linkedin.com/posts/fbeira...
