Antinuclear

Wind and solar getting cheaper, and impressive in Spain and Portugal

Spain has grown from using just two percent wind and solar power to almost 20 percent in a decade…..Portugal has demonstrated an even more remarkable transformation in the last five or so years….Wind and solar are, when compared accurately to the appropriate baseload, load-following or peak power resources, cost-effective today.

Spain and Portugal Lead the Way on Renewable Energy Transformation, Renewable Energy World, By Tam Hunt,   February 7, 2011 Rapid energy transformation at the national level is possible. Transformation is also necessary if we are to mitigate the impacts of climate change and peak oil. The kind of transformation we need in the U.S. has been demonstrated vividly by an increasing number of nations shifting rapidly to a renewable energy economy. Spain and Portugal are currently the most powerful examples of this transformation. Spain has grown from using just two percent wind and solar power to almost 20 percent in a decade…..Portugal has demonstrated an even more remarkable transformation in the last five or so years. In 2004, Portugal had just two percent wind and solar, but by the end of 2009 (the latest year for which data are available) this had risen to over fifteen percent!…….
feed-in tariff laws prompted the booms in Spain and Portugal. Spain’s solar sector, as mentioned, is suffering from dramatic changes to the law, but the wind power sector – far larger than the solar sector – continues to grow dramatically. So the debate over feed-in tariffs will continue but it is simply not the case, as some critics insist, that countries like Spain show the folly (boom and bust) of feed-in tariffs for all renewables……….
Another very encouraging trend is the decline in wind and solar power costs over the last few years, which I wrote about recently. Wind and solar are, when compared accurately to the appropriate baseload, load-following or peak power resources, cost-effective today. This is a very important point that should be spread far and wide.

Spain and Portugal Lead the Way on Renewable Energy Transformation | Renewable Energy News Article

February 8, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized