05-11 Solar Politics

Germany is interesting because they are not the sunniest nation in Europe, and yet, they lead in solar applications. The secret is 1.5 million homes with solar on their rooves, all subsidized by the state.
This does not mean that Europe has gone completely solar. They are getting rid of coal for generating electricity, but in many cases are replacing them with cheap natural gas from Russia.
Love the politics of the solar road in France which was supposed to provide electricity for a local town. The search engines are full of photos of the politicians walking down their magic road. But it all turned out to be a technical and political fiasco. Apparently, the engineers forgot about the sticky leaves that killed the productivity of the solar cells.
The politics of new solar applications are important everywhere. Certainly, in the Caribbean and in California which have had their energy grids damaged by weather related climate change, there is increased demand for solar and battery storage as consumers and communities go off the grid.
We have our own politics in Canada. There is a Green Party which is a supporter of renewables replacing fossil fuels. No surprise here. But they oppose the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline which is designed to take additional heavy crude oil from the tar sands to China.
Well, China does not care one way or the other. They can get all the heavy crude they need from Venezuela. This is what I would call “bull-shit” climate change politics.
Both Canada and the United States are major producers and consumers of fossil fuels. So, it is not easy to be a politician. It also means the politics of solar are different in different parts of the nation. Nothing like being a polluter and an environmentalist at the same time.
The big change everywhere will come as the technology and economics of solar are more powerful than the politics. We are almost there.
According to what I am learning from my subscription to PV Magazine, some of the recently constructed utility solar farms are producing energy that is cheaper not only than fossil fuels but nuclear and hydro.
Solar on the rooves of homes is good economics and good politics. Solar technologies that find their way into consumer products as well as homes and buildings are also good politics because they will involve the small business community.
And all the new jobs associated with solar installations is good politics. Powerful news with all the warnings about new artificial intelligence technologies taking jobs away.