Nostalgia of Startup Beginnings and Challenges

The solar industry has experienced a meteoric rise over the past two decades, growing from a small cottage industry to one of the leading technologies in the energy transition. It’s not been a smooth ride, and there’ve been plenty of bankruptcies on the way, from Solyndra to Suntech, but more than half a terawatt of new solar is now being built each year and the industry is still growing rapidly. So how did we get here, and how far do we have to go? 

Michael Liebreich is joined by BloombergNEF lead solar analyst Jenny Chase to chart the course of the solar industry, do a little mythbusting, and ask what next for this multibillion dollar industry. Is China’s dominance of solar a problem? Is solar still too expensive for developing countries? And when will we get free electricity?

Links: 

• Jenny’s Book - Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
• The Usain Bolt of Solar Power - Ep130: Paddy Padmanathan
• 650 Leagues of HVDC Under the Sea - Ep92: Simon Morrish
• Auke Hoekstra’s IEA underestimates chart