alt Hacker News> The war to have solar plants over more coal is falling back to coal thanks mostly to AI.
Also, due to solar not panning out at scale.[1]
More seriously, coal is just cheaper and, with incentives being removed for green energy, it's the cheapest and fastest option to deploy. It's dead simple and well understood reliable power.
[1]https://apnews.com/article/california-solar-energy-ivanpah-b...
Replies
outside1234 • yesterday at 3:58 PM
The example you chose is of a mirror based Solar system, which yes, is an obsolete technology.
Direct solar continues to be installed at greater amounts every year and coal is economically uncompetitive with basic anything (which is why it is collapsing), and especially against natural gas.
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Wild take. New coal is not cheaper. There have been no new coal plants built in the US since 2013.
That solar plant you linked is an obsolete experimental technology. Obsolete because regular PV became so much cheaper.