17 December

Back to the marginal cost curve for renewables, to one of the miracles of our lives. SWB = solar, wind, batteries. You can see that the lowest cost SWB grid generates between 3 to 5 times *more* energy than our entire grid right now. Not less. That’s why experts call SWB ‘superpower’. The marginal cost of renewables at that lowest point of the U-curve is effectively zero. Meaning you can add capacity at that point and it will cost you effectively nothing. A country can over-build their grid with renewables, to way more than is needed in sunnier months, to cover for winter, and it will cost them nothing to do it. That means they have ‘superpower’ amounts of energy to play with, for most of the year. Way MORE energy than we have available right now. And it costs them NOTHING. 3-5 times as much energy as we have available right now, in the whole grid. For nothing. This is what good solar installers at home do too. Our panels for example for three quarters of the year produce enough energy to power 3 or 4 homes. That’s so they produce more in winter, and we then use that huge surplus to pay for winter, but to also do things like charge cars. That removes our cost of fuel for transport. Renewables create energy abundance, they’re not a replacement for fossil fuel power. Fossil fuel power costs more, the more you use. With nuclear, it costs more in a non-linear way i.e. the costs grow even faster, as you add more. Renewables are the exact opposite. The more you add, the cheaper it gets. Energy becomes free. If you don’t believe me, look at the wholesale price of electricity every day. Often zero, and even negative i.e. they’ll pay you to use it. This is also why no energy companies are building coal or nuclear plants now. It’s like burning money. Even if idiot politicians try to force these technologies on the grid, companies will ignore it. They’ll invest in renewables, because super energy means super profits, for them.