Bright Futures: Renewables Achieve Cost Parity With Fossil Fuels

Solar energy still isn’t showing any signs of slowing down in terms of global progress. The Lloyds Register – a global engineering, technology and business organisation – recently conducted a survey of 600 sector experts across the world regarding the impact of newer, greener technologies. We’re happy to report that the responses were very encouraging!

Renewables Are Cost Effective

One of the primary findings from the report is that over 70% of its respondents believe that renewables area already cost-competitive with fossil fuels like coal and oil. This is partially due to ever more rapidly developing innovations in renewables technology, as well as a gradual societal lean toward greener initiatives. As a case in point, the cost of solar solutions have fallen by over 80% in the past ten years alone – quite the jump! – making it the world’s cheapest form of renewable energy.

The European experts believed that the biggest current barriers to even further growth are public opinion, overly strict regulations and deployment challenges. Right now, what the renewables sector is most in need of is standardisation – in other words, for more people to adopt it than ever. Happily, we’re already well on the way to this (as we’ve already discussed in previous blogs this year). Though there are still some people to convince, the fact remains that we’re living in a world with ever-increasing global confidence in renewable energy, and that confidence doesn’t look to be dampened anytime soon. There’s nowhere to go but up!

Promising Solar Technologies

Even better, there are inventions already being developed that promise to further revolutionise the way we deploy renewable technology, addressing its few shortcomings. Recent software advances are focused on improving the capacity and efficiency of existing battery storage solutions, allowing us to stock up more electricity at a time for when we need it most. Some of these innovations come in the form of the impressively named ‘supercapacitators’ – these not only offer greater storage, but also speed up charging times for large batteries. It’s predicted that electrical solutions like this (rather than mechanical or chemical alternatives) will have the greatest impact on advancing renewables technology.

Meanwhile, continuing with the theme of technology with functions as awesome as their names, Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, United States, is due to start producing in-house manufactured battery packs this year. In doing so, Tesla aims to reduce production costs by 30%. This is already predicted to boost the American EV (electric vehicle) market by around 60% over the next twelve months, which means an awe-inspiring amount of low-carbon vehicles on the world’s roads. It’s only a matter of time before such benefits get exported to other countries, too.

At Low Carbon Energy, we’re proud to be not only providing fantastic service to you, our customers, but also helping the planet while we do it. Why not join us in the energy revolution? You can browse our solar solutions here, or read a bit about our portfolio of customers who’ve already benefitted from our services. Of course, if you ever need any help or advice we’re only a phone call away on 08456 808963.

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