March 9, 2023
PITY THE POOR PETROPHILES:
Have we reached electricity's carbon-free tipping point? (JOHN QUIGGIN 9 MARCH 2023, Inside Story)
Total electricity demand is currently a bit over 25000 terawatt hours a year, growing at an annual rate of around 3 per cent. So, to meet the growing demand, we need to generate an additional 750 terawatt hours from solar and wind. (Other carbon-free sources, such as hydro and nuclear, have been essentially static.)Assuming solar PV generates at full power for 2000 hours per year, each gigawatt of solar capacity generates an annual two terawatt hours of electricity. Meeting additional demand with solar alone therefore requires adding between 375 gigawatts of solar PV per year, with any shortfall made up by wind.The good news is that is already happening.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 9, 2023 6:34 AM