[BrianC]

Solar Power To Overtake Oil Production Investment For First Time (reuters.com) 57
Posted by BeauHD on Friday May 26, 2023 @06:00AM from the times-they-are-a-changin' dept.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), investment in clean energy is set to surpass spending on fossil fuels in 2023, with solar projects expected to outpace oil production for the first time. Reuters reports:
Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report. Around 90% of that clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China, however, highlighting the global divide between rich and poor countries as fossil fuel investment is still double the levels needed to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.

Around $2.8 trillion is set to be invested in energy worldwide in 2023, of which more than $1.7 trillion is expected to go to renewables, nuclear power, electric vehicles, and efficiency improvements. The rest, or around $1 trillion, will go to oil, gas and coal, demand for the last of which will reach an all-time high or six times the level needed in 2030 to reach net zero by 2050.

Current fossil fuel spending is significantly higher than what it should be to reach the goal of net zero by mid-century, the agency said. In 2023, solar power spending is due to hit more than $1 billion a day or $382 billion for the year, while investment in oil production will stand at $371 billion. Investment in new fossil fuel supply will rise by 6% in 2023 to $950 billion, the IEA added.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 023-05-25/

[theluckycountry]

I wouldn't regard the money poured into solar as an "Investment" anymore than I would the money poured into private and commercial vehicles as an investment. You can spin it that way and companies do, but it's just an overhead, the purchase of equipment that will begin degrading the moment it's erected under the sun. In 15 or 20 years they are worn out and another purchase will need to be made.

If the panels were generating enough surplus to run a mine and factory that over time created the new panels, then I would call that an investment. Like a farm or a factory whose profits allow for maintenance and resupply. Solar and wind are just novel ways of using MORE oil and coal, right at the point in history when we should be using drastically less.

The World count reduce it's oil and coal use by 90% by simply giving up all the modern luxuries we are addicted to, Street lighting, Air conditioning, endless vehicular travel, endless production of worthless consumer goods that go into the landfill not long after sale. But that scenario belongs in a Disney movie, not in any real world inhabited by the greedy human species.

[kublikhan]

If the panels were generating enough surplus to run a mine and factory that over time created the new panels, then I would call that an investment.

Then by your own definition, it is an investment. Because solar panels long ago passed the point where they are generating enough energy to replace themselves. It's all been surplus since then.

April 2013 - Solar energy has a reputation as being a clean energy source but hasn't earned it — at least not up until now. That's because in a darkly ironic truth, the power used to manufacture solar panels still comes mainly from electricity generated by fossil fuels. But a new study from Stanford researchers says that the balance may be tipping: all the solar panels online around the world last year produced enough energy to make up for the energy it took to make them. The future looks even brighter with researchers projecting that the industry will be generating enough power between 2015 and 2020 to offset all of the historic creation costs.

Solar panels finally produce more energy than it takes to make them

[BrianC]

Top Solar Firm Warns Excess Capacity Risks Wave of Failures (caixinglobal.com) 5
Posted by msmash on Friday May 26, 2023 @03:20PM from the how-about-that dept.
China's world-leading solar industry could face a wave of bankruptcies if the current aggressive expansion of manufacturing capacity continues, according to the sector's biggest player. From a report:
More than half of China's solar manufacturers could be forced out in the next two to three years because of excess capacity, Li Zhenguo, president of Longi Green Energy Technology, said during an interview Wednesday on the sidelines of the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai. "Those that will be hurt first will be those that are not prepared sufficiently," he said. Companies with weaker finances and less-advanced technology are most at risk, according to Li.

The global solar market is growing rapidly, with installations expected to rise 36% this year to 344 gigawatts, according to BloombergNEF. But factories are expanding even faster. One step in the supply chain alone -- producing the polysilicon that goes into the panels -- will see capacity rise enough to produce 600 gigawatts this year, BloombergNEF analyst Jenny Chase said in a presentation at SNEC earlier this week. "There will be a price crash, it will hurt, and there will probably be bankruptcies across the industry," she said. Others pushed back against overcapacity concerns. Companies that are expanding are doing so because their customers need it, said Li Junfeng, executive council member of the China Energy Research Society.

[ralfy]

Solar power promises better returns for investors because of increasing demand for it worldwide.

Meanwhile, the oil needed for that solar power is experiencing diminishing returns: increasing amounts of money and energy needed to get decreasing amounts of oil, and even oil of lower quality.

The same thing is happening for minerals needed for solar power.

[AdamB]

April 2013 - Solar energy has a reputation as being a clean energy source but hasn't earned it — at least not up until now. That's because in a darkly ironic truth, the power used to manufacture solar panels still comes mainly from electricity generated by fossil fuels. But a new study from Stanford researchers says that the balance may be tipping: all the solar panels online around the world last year produced enough energy to make up for the energy it took to make them. The future looks even brighter with researchers projecting that the industry will be generating enough power between 2015 and 2020 to offset all of the historic creation costs.

Solar panels finally produce more energy than it takes to make them

Just goes to show that Lucky doesn't check ANY of the nonsense that flows from his keyboard...what is that, a characteristic of the less educated old farts (or any age), uninformed and provincials without education or an ability to learn, or what?

Just at a guess it seems reasonable that the more renewables making power (as a %) the more as each part of the new renewables coming online, until the inputs are mostly renewable creating renewables.

10 seconds of thinking in that one.....maybe 3rd Worlders would get to it in a year of study? Or 20 seconds of googling....should they choose to learn before being wrong anyway.