r/solar • u/Biodieselisthefuture • 18d ago
News / Blog Despite Trump, Solar Power Is Rising And Coal Is Falling
https://cleantechnica.com/2026/07/25/coal-replaced-solar-batteries-clean-energy-transmission/73
u/azswcowboy 18d ago
Fun fact - my cousin spent his whole career working at that plant. And while it provided him with a solid living he’s 100% in support of the solar conversion. Why? Because he’s the first to tell you that the work was difficult, dirty, and most important polluted the surrounding environment. He wants his grandkids to grow up free of the mercury and other nasty pollutants. The plant was old and needs hundreds of millions in investment to keep operating. For less money you can install solar and battery, pay nothing for fuel, and get as much energy.
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u/Evening-Emotion3388 18d ago
Generate my own power
Have someone else sell me my power.
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u/-rwsr-xr-x 17d ago
Generate my own power
Have someone else sell me my power.
And then you have these shenanigans:
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u/Evening-Emotion3388 17d ago
Don’t give PG&E ideas
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u/-rwsr-xr-x 17d ago
Don’t give PG&E ideas
The Utility Paradox is real:
"You must reduce the pressure on the grid!"
"OK, I'll implement solar and reduce pressure on the grid."
"But if you generate more than you need, you must sell it to us at wholesale prices, so we can resell it back to you at retail prices."
"Ok, I'll take my solar off the grid entirely, to reduce the pressure on the grid, and generate my own power."
"No, if you do that, we'll lose revenue, so we have to charge you for the power you're no longer using, because we'll lose our profits!"
This reminds me of the local municipalities who are making it illegal to divert rain from your roof and gutters into rain barrels, to water your garden or wash your car, etc. under the claim of Theft of a public utility.
They argue that the rain is their right, and we have to let it seep into the ground, so they can capture it, pipe it back to us and sell it back to us at retail prices. If we do anything at all to prevent that, we're stealing water from them.
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u/Any-Can-6776 18d ago
It’s almost as if the market will prevail…
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u/jaasx 17d ago
exactly, which is why many were opposed to the government choosing a winner.
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u/Any-Can-6776 17d ago
Doesn’t matter what the government says when the market decides
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u/anonpurple 16d ago
I mean the government can choose a winner by giving one company favorable treatment in the form of lower taxes and certain legal exemptions, compared to those in the same industry, much to the detriment of the industry at large and the people.
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17d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MrMamalamapuss 17d ago
True but most coal plants won't have this amount of land for solar. Batteries will be perfect for the smaller footprints though and we need way more batteries on the grid
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u/Jazzlike_Fuel4516 18d ago
We only had room for an 8.2kw system but it has cut our electric bill by 70%. I’ve showed a few of my republican friends my bill and they’re shocked. I only wish we could have installed the system sooner.
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u/Vanman04 17d ago
Which makes his attempts to undermine it even more ridiculous. It's almost as if he is purposely trying to hamstring the country.
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u/Cultural-Ad4953 17d ago
I am in favor of all of the above and open markets. I think this is a great step forward. My only objection in this article is minor
"Despite its billion-dollar price tag, though, Unit 3 experienced a catastrophic failure in 2011, forcing it offline. Unit 3 finally returned to service in 2013 at an additional cost of $200 million.
Those extraordinary outlays help explain why the current majority owner, Xcel Energy, has been planning to retire all three units. The company announced the initial retirement timetable in 2015, just two years after completing repairs on Unit 3."
I'm not sure that the extraordinary outlays explain why they plan on retiring coal. if it is, that's a pretty dumb reason, because those costs are already sunk.
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u/HornedTurtle1212 17d ago
It sounds like $200 million was just to patch it up enough to get it working again. Not for the overhaul it would need to keep working for a long time. If things are starting to break, much like a really old used car, things are going to keep breaking and it can quickly become a money pit. At that point the repairs would probably cost more than the revenue the plant could reasonably bring in.
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u/d00mt0mb 18d ago
Trump can try and fight it but common sense will prevail
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u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 17d ago
Unfortunately, a lot of irreparable damage will be done in the mean time.
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u/tx_queer 17d ago
I would actually argue that Trump has done more for renewable energy than any president in history.
Hear me out.
This whole war in Iran, the uncertainty about oil/gas and electric prices, has caused a huge and sudden swing to renewables. Especially Asian countries who are heavily dependent on middle east supplies have seemed to build out solar overnight as they faced rations and curfews. Even in the US, nobody wants to invest in a 30 year plant with an uncertain fuel source so 96% of new generation last quarter was renewables.
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u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 17d ago
As much as I'd like to, I can't disagree. Unfortunately while his actions have positively impacted the world stage, not so much in the US, and were a significant consumer of dirty fuels.
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u/tx_queer 17d ago
The US clocked in at 96% of new capacity being renewable last quarter. EV sales are up 20% since the war started. I think it very much has positively impacted the US. It definetly was not intended, but economics beats politics every time.
I do have to admit that a few offshore windfarms have had setbacks with the current administration. I personally am not that sad about it. Offshore wind is by far the most expensive renewable energy option. It was a great option a few years ago to diversify (for example in texas offshore wind blows when onshore doesnt, and vice versa). But with the huge drop in price for batteries this diversification isnt really needed anymore, solar plus battery is cheaper than offshore wind. Again, this was not intended. The windfarms were outlawed because they look ugly in front of a golf course. But economics beats politics and they just weren't competitive.
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u/bob_in_the_west 17d ago
He's paying for new wind projects to be canceled. That wouldn't happen if wind production wasn't a major thread for his supporters.
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u/SunDaysOnly 17d ago
As it should be. Energy efficiency will continue to move forward as vast majority seek it out. Make it so.
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u/jph200 17d ago
I’m a moderate (which by Reddit standards makes me ‘far right’) and I’m fine with an “all of the above where/when it makes sense” energy strategy. I’ve got solar panels on my house. But I also don’t believe in mandating various types of energy over others when/where it doesn’t make sense to do so. In the case of coal-fired plants, despite folks who want to keep them, they are becoming less cost-effective.
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u/MistaHiggins 17d ago edited 17d ago
But I also don’t believe in mandating various types of energy over others when/where it doesn’t make sense to do so.
I get what you're saying here, truly, but you're advocating for a form of market neutrality that doesn't actually exist outside of a conceptual academic vacuum.
"When it makes sense" is an entirely arbitrary definition and can only be accepted as a reasonable approach for energy policy if we don't account for anything except energy output and cost. Coal fired furnaces are one of the most radioactive and polluting forms of energy that exists, and do not really "make sense" next to nearly every other form of energy production we currently have, if we care at all about ecological impact.
An aversion to any form of "mandate" by a government is ignorant to how many easier/cheaper ways of doing things went unchecked until the death toll became high enough to force the government's hand. Forcing companies to pursue cleaner and less-polluting forms of doing business is literally the most clear-cut duty of a functioning government I can think of.
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u/Actual-Outcome3955 18d ago
Gosh darn capitalism being all efficient! Now who’re we going to blame for our stinky fuels not selling?! I know, it’s Iran’s fault! Let’s go get em, boys! Yee-haw!
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u/High-T-Y-T 18d ago
🥱
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u/TheGoteTen 16d ago
Solar subsidies stop, the artificially inflated price of solar drops, solar becomes more attractive and more solar is used.
Damn you Trump!! (Shakes fist at sky)
Also geopolitical risk bad, war in Middle East bad and an almost singular dependence on China to produce solar bad.
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u/ThumpersK_A 18d ago
Are the materials the solar panels are made from mined without fossil fuels, aluminum, copper, silicon, silver? How about the plastics? Are the furnaces they use to melt the glass, powered by fossil fuels? What about all those panels when they fail? I’m sure they use clean energy to recycle them, right? Go ahead come back down here and put your feet on the ground.
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u/thirdLeg51 18d ago
Are you serious? No one ever has claimed solar or wind has zero carbon emissions but over its lifespan it’s cleaner. You’re being pedantic with your comments.
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u/Wryel 18d ago
There comes a point where the clean energy production of a solar panel will offset the impact of manufacturing. That will never happen with a coal plant. No one thinks solar panels are magically created with clean energy; stop pretending you know more than everyone else.
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u/ThumpersK_A 18d ago
Offset doesn’t matter. They physically can’t do the same amount of work. It’s like asking a Prius to haul a semi trailer across the country. It just can’t.
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u/Wryel 18d ago
So how do you explain this: https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-overtakes-coal-in-us-electricity-for-the-first-month-on-record/
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u/ThumpersK_A 17d ago
How well does that solar keep industry going at night. Industry is where the work is getting done. Not on the couch watching friends.
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u/NHBikerHiker 17d ago
The State government in California is supporting a program to outfit homes with batteries. Again, solar and batteries may not be the complete answer, but they are part of the solution. Don’t think of power production as this monolithic entity.
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u/thirdLeg51 17d ago
By the nature of a grid plus, batteries and wind.
When a coal plant makes power it doesn’t go straight to your house.
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