Five years is a long time: it's enough for the Sun to radiate the energy equivalent to all our reserves of oil, coal and natural gas.
If we were able to convert 0,02% of its energy into electricity, we would have covered 100% of our needs.
We harvest sustainable energy from sun, tides, wind, geothermal sources and in just 30 years all of our resources will be renewable (and I didn't mention possible nuclear fusion).
Here are the 5 energy revolutions we will see from 2019 to 2024:
First “1 cent per kWh” offers driven by solar and wind
10 years ago the lowest price for energy produced by solar and wind was between 10 and 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), double the price of energy produced by coal or natural gas.
Today the gap between these forms of energy has become gossamer in different parts of the world. In the G20 countries, for example, the cost of electricity from fossil fuels fluctuates between 5 and 17 cents per kWh, while the average price of photovoltaic energy it is about 10 cents per kWh.
The Spanish company Solarpack recently won a contract for the realization of a 120MW solar power plant that supplies energy at an average price of 2.90 cents per kWh, and will be fully operational in 2021: it will be a drop of more than 25% compared to current prices.
The countries of South America can drive the further fall in prices in the following years, up to the milestone of 1 cent per kWh.
Solar and wind power will exceed 15% of the total electricity produced in the USA and drive growth everywhere.
Currently photovoltaic and wind energy cover just over 8% of US needs. In total 17% of the requirement is met by renewable sources, the rest is divided between fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Last year in the UK wind power has generated the double the energy generated by coal with a record week in May 2018 that saw total independence from coal, with wind and solar able to cover 35% and 21% of the national demand respectively.
It's just the beginning: solar and wind still have a relatively low share of energy produced in world, about 6% total, by 2024 it will be 15% in the USA and just under average of the planet.
The time is approaching when it will no longer be convenient to build any fossil-fueled power station.
Building new solar or wind farms will be cheaper than keeping coal-fired ones open.
Last October, Indian company NIPSCO announced its transition from a 65% coal-fired industry to a completely carbon-free status by 2028. And the best part is that it didn't do it. for love of the environment but by mere calculation, estimating 4 billion in savings.
NextEra, one of the largest American energy operators he stared a similar goal, planning to purchase 7 million solar panels over the next 4 years from JinkoSolar.
Sales of combustion cars will stop: the car market will be driven only by electric cars.
Electric vehicles have always been more expensive than combustion-engined ones, but with inferiors maintenance costs: helped by the drop in battery costs, electric cars will end up being by far the best investment even in the long term.
According to the leading experts in the sector, combustion vehicles reached their peak diffusion already in 2018 and from then on they will only continue to steadily decline: during 2019, on the other hand, electric cars will quadruple their market share (for now standing at 1.6%).
New storage technologies will replace lithium-ion batteries
For decades lithium-ion batteries have dominated the market, but this will not be the case in the future: new technologies capable of capturing and storing solar energy will be the new protagonists on the scene.
Let's talk about solid state batteries, which are always increasing number of companies (Toyota, Honda, BMW, Hyundai, Nissan) is developing.
Le solid state batteries are up to 6 times faster to load, they have triple of the available energy and last on average 8 years longer.
With these characteristics the "old" lithium's years are numbered.
