In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels

Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by dyauspitr on Thursday January 22, 2026 @11:29AM (#46721453)

What is the underlying reason in the US though? You would think if they are artificially inflated prices the market would fix that. What I’ve found is that a large part of the cost is the actual labor for the installation, how are other developed countries getting around this?

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by philipkglass on Thursday January 22, 2026 @11:56AM (#46721852)

It's mostly due to higher "soft costs" such as complicated/slow permitting and high customer acquisition costs. Australia has a higher minimum wage but much lower costs to get a rooftop system installed.

"How to cut U.S. residential solar costs in half"

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/07/11/how-to-cut-u-s-reside...

Birch points to Australia, where he said the average 7 kW solar array with a 7 kW battery costs $14,000. That equates to $2.02 per W, with batteries included.

“You can sell it on Tuesday and install it on Wednesday, there’s no red tape, no permitting delays,” said Birch.

...

In the United States, that same solar and battery installation averages $36,000, said Birch. Permitting alone can take two to six months, and the cost per watt of a solar plus storage installation is up to 2.5 times the Australian price, landing at $5.18 per W.

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by testing22321 on Thursday January 22, 2026 @12:28PM (#46722325)

Those numbers for Australia are very out of date.

My Dad in Australia just got 10.6kw fully installed and running for $4,000 AUD

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by dyauspitr on Thursday January 22, 2026 @01:22PM (#46723141)

Was this on his roof? Were there government subsidies?

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by testing22321 on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:37PM (#46724131)

Yes and yes

Australia is spending tax dollars to get solar on every roof in the country instead of building coal or nuke plants. Now people are getting free power as a result.

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by dyauspitr on Thursday January 22, 2026 @03:52PM (#46724979)

I wish we did that.

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by account42 on Thursday January 22, 2026 @11:37AM (#46721587)

Mostly by giving people free money to install them so they go on the internet to say how cheap they are.

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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by amanaplanacanal on Thursday January 22, 2026 @11:58AM (#46721872)

That might be cheaper than grid upgrades though. Even though some people might get upset that somebody else is getting something for free.

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