How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes over the world?

Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by eru on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:21PM (#11524493)

> The real big breakthrough would be somme big improvement on storage. I'm not convinced this will happen quickly (at least not in anyway similar to the declining cost of PV panels). The consumer electronics industry has been paying $$$ for decades for better batteries/battery r&d and has seen pretty poor gains.

Actually, it's not too bad, just slower. Batteries improve around 8% per year, if I remember right.

That's less than semiconductor based stuff improved when Moore's law held, but pretty impressive compared to lots of other technologies.

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by p1mrx on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @01:55AM (#11525130)

Li-ion 18650 cells held 2300mAh in 2005[1], and 3350mAh today[2]. That's an increase of 45% in just under 11 years. If capacity were really growing at 8% per year, then 18650 cells should have a capacity of 5300mAh by now.

[1] http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?88468-Tri...

[2] http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?417736-Te...

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by imaginenore on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @06:22AM (#11525981)

That's 3.5% per year growth. Not bad.

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by eru on Wednesday April 20, 2016 @05:31AM (#11533192)

Oh, it's not just one technology getting the increase, but switching to other technologies over time.

Thanks for digging up the numbers!

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by marvin on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @03:40AM (#11525449)

Did you compensate for cost in this example?

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by imaginenore on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @06:21AM (#11525975)

Cost has nothing to do with this argument. He is talking about energy density.

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by ars on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @09:28AM (#11526743)

Quite the opposite. For grid storage (in contrast to cars) energy density is irreverent (there is plenty of space). What matters is cost.

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Re:How cheap does solar power need to get before it takes ov... by eru on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @07:19PM (#11531252)

I was talking about cost. I don't know about p1mrx.

In any case, a bit of Googling will give you more details about the improvements than my faulty memory..

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