Jenny ChaseOct 20

Time to make 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of Nov 2025.

It's the book I should have read before trying to get a job in renewable energy. Reviewers describe it as “to the point, important, and taught me a lot” and “surprisingly entertaining, don’t be put off by the title”.

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0437#t=aboutBook

Show threadJenny ChaseOct 20

I have put out this thread once a year on X since 2017 and Mastodon / Bluesky since 2024. See 2024 thread below, and from there links to previous threads. So you can see what I got wrong, or at least changed.

https://mastodon.green/@solar_chase/113214911341855405

Some of these assertions will contain links to BloombergNEF content under a paywall. If you are not lucky enough to have access, you'll have to believe me that's what it says.

Also, I'm on maternity leave, so this thread is lighter on changes than in some years.

Jenny Chase (@[email protected])

Time to make 2024 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon is out. https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0437#t=aboutBook

Mastodon.green
Show threadJenny ChaseOct 20
1. To opinions! Solar is the cheapest source of bulk electricity in many countries, and the quickest to deploy, and now you couldn't stop it being built if you wanted to. The limits to PV build in most places are grid access, permitting, and sometimes installation labour.
Show threadJenny ChaseOct 20
2. 20 years ago when I got this job, I thought maybe solar would one day be 1% of global electricity supply. In 2024 it was about 7% worldwide, and rising fast. You can see this eating into fossil fuel power generation in, for example, Europe.
Show threadScooter 
@solar_chase I did a doubletake at this graph. Is that ~20% wind/solar for all of Europe??
Oct 20 at 11:56pmWeb
Show threadJenny ChaseOct 21
@scooter approximately, yes!