It has all the hallmarks of a new industry with ups and downs, but it is clearly here to stay — even with
cheap natural gas coming from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in shale formations.
Not exact matches
Natural gas is still so
cheap that solar has trouble competing with existing plants, but when it
comes to new
gas plants, solar is getting within striking distance, especially if
gas prices rise more than forecasted.
Calpine's deal
comes at a time when the U.S. wholesale power generation industry is struggling with margin pressure as
cheap natural gas from shale fields in recent years has been driving down electricity prices.
The proposal
comes as nuclear facilities across the country feel the financial pressure of
cheap natural gas produced by the fracking boom and after Entergy has already decided to close its Vermont Yankee facility for economic reasons.
That viability will
come down to cost, as projects in previous decades foundered in the face of
cheap natural gas.
«
Cheap natural gas, the rapid decline in the cost of solar and wind generation, and continued flat electricity demand make it next to impossible that U.S. coal production will significantly increase in
coming years.»
Experts say that if we bought $ 50 to $ 200 billion worth of solar panels over the next 10 — 20 years, the price of solar could
come to down to the price of
natural gas and even coal, not just in the U.S. but even in developing countries like China, where coal is especially
cheap.
The value of doing this is clear: «Experts say that if we bought $ 50 to $ 200 billion worth of solar panels over the next 10 — 20 years, the price of solar could
come to down to the price of
natural gas and even coal, not just in the U.S. but even in developing countries like China, where coal is especially
cheap.»
Between January and May, U.S. carbon emissions fell to a 20 - year low; 48 percent of that resulted from substituting coal for
cheap shale
natural gas, while little, if any,
came from deploying subsidized wind and solar, according to Michael Levi, the director of the climate change program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The bottom line is that Trump may talk a good game when it
comes to coal, but dirt -
cheap natural gas has destroyed any meaningful prospects for the coal industry.
Natural gas is still so
cheap that solar has trouble competing with existing plants, but when it
comes to new
gas plants, solar is getting within striking distance, especially if
gas prices rise more than forecasted.
In fact, they're pretty happy about all this oil and
natural gas, the jobs that are
coming along with it, and the
cheaper energy costs.
While the start of the Great Recession had something to do with it, new analysis from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences shows that, when it
comes to reductions in emissions from electricity production, which dropped 8.76 % from 2008,
cheaper natural gas prices were behind the decline, with
natural gas displacing coal.