By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
What Happened: For. The. Win. A new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggests renewables’ prices are falling so quickly that coal is dead and even natural gas may be on its deathbed.
- The cost of new solar plants dropped 20% over the past 12 months, while onshore wind prices dropped 12%, according to the latest Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report.
- Since 2010, the prices for lithium-ion batteries — crucial to energy storage — have plummeted a stunning 79 percent, the report also indicates.
- The kill quote: “The economic case for building new coal and gas capacity is crumbling,” as BNEF’s chief of energy economics, Elena Giannakopoulou, told Bloomberg.
How long will the blue flame of natural gas continue to burn as an alternative to fossil fuels? If Bloomberg New Energy Finance is right, not much longer.
SolarWakeup’s View: Lookie here – it seems like I might be right about a thing.
Let’s back up for a second. On Monday, I wrote about the theory that renewables may be falling in price so quickly that natural gas, long touted as the most effective “transition energy,” might be surpassed by renewables soon. As evidence, I cited recent decisions in California’s and Arizona’s regulatory bodies to deny utilities the right to build new peaker natural gas plants as evidence. And near the end, I wrote this:
Energy storage is the key. As the technology gets better and the prices come down, the need for a transition energy like natural gas becomes increasingly less important.
And four days later, Think Progress alerted me to a new Bloomberg New Energy Finance report that said, well, nearly exactly that.
(In case you’re headed to Vegas, I predict the Cleveland Browns are going to win the 2019 Super Bowl, and Tyrod Taylor will be its MVP. Remember you read it here first.)
As I read Think Progress’ story, this quotation just leaped off the page:
“The economic case for building new coal and gas capacity is crumbling,” as BNEF’s chief of energy economics, Elena Giannakopoulou, told Bloomberg.
Incredible, right? I started writing about solar in 2011, and you could never have convinced then me that by 2018 we might already be “Bye, Felicia”-ing natural gas into history. (Which, as an aside, makes promises to “save coal” or “revive coal” even more ludicrous, but I digress.)
So here’s to natural gas who, I presume, will desperately try to hang on to its 15 minutes of fame by hook-and-crook – but ultimately, in the not-too-distant future, it will end up in the ash heap of history.
Bye, natural gas.
More:
Will Natural Gas Lose Its Place As A Transition Energy?
Stunning drops in solar, wind costs mean economic case for coal, gas is ‘crumbling’
Bonus:
I love etymological videos. For those of you who don’t know, here’s the etymology of “Bye, Felicia.”