Plan for 24h/d solar power to everyone by 2030:
1. A very-high-voltage transmission line, circling the earth, connecting the deserts of Mexico, Morocco, Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, and either the Gobi or Australian deserts.
2. Smaller high-voltage lines, from that line to all population centers.
3. Excess electricity stored in water reservoirs (2 nearby dams at different heights; run the turbines backward to pump water uphill). Lots of sites available, in Canada, Russia, Africa, South America. For instance, the Yukon river, with a huge flow, is today totally un-dammed.
4. 5-10%/year cost declines for solar, makes solar economic without subsidies 2-5 years from now.
5. The sites in those deserts, where the huge solar parks will be installed, and the transmission lines, will have security jointly guaranteed by the nations buying the electricity.
6. Batteries get cheap and light enough so all-electric and hybrid cars can displace half the oil used for transportation with solar power.
7. The limiting factor in this plan, is not technology or money, but political will. The political will to do this, will be created by the next war in a major oil-producing nation, which could be Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Indonesia.
solarbuzz.com
blogs.scientificamerican.com
Notice, this is a log chart, and doesn't include the last 2 years of huge price declines, which have brought the price to $2/w for some modules. |
