Tony Seba
1 HN recommender · recommended in 4 months, 2021–2025
12:02 · 90K views · Feb 16, 2021
Tony Seba of RethinkX presents the case that solar, wind and batteries are on a cost-decline path that makes a fully renewable grid achievable. It was made for the Global 100% RE Strategy Group's joint declaration.
HN cites it as support for the argument that renewables with storage are already cheapest and still getting cheaper.
4 comments from Hacker News
Solar and wind-power can compete very efficiently in a free market. They actually outperform all other forms of energy-production (it is the cheapest way to produce energy). Also every year they get much cheaper. I would recommend this video: this video
It is unfortunate that the government of Pakistan and their investors (China and the IMF) made poor investment decisions. They should feel free to go back to debt holders to renegotiate the debt, or default on it and hand the stranded assets back to creditors. The death spiral is of their own making, and will only accelerate as solar PV and battery cost declines continue. Electricity consumers will simply go off the grid. Such is the risk of unsophisticated investors not understanding the market in which they invest. Capital being at risk is an inherent component of investment. My condolences and sympathy to the people of Pakistan caught in the mess. The global energy transition will be volatile. Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything - [LINK] - June 21st, 2025 Stranded fossil-fuel assets translate to major losses for investors in advanced economies - [LINK] | [LINK] - May 26th, 2022 Rethinking Energy -- 100% Solar, Wind and Batteries Is Just The Beginning - this video - January 2021 Who owns the distressed fossil generation collateralized debt? China. Where is Pakistan importing cleantech from? China. There is some IMF debt in there as well, for accuracy. How Chinese loans trapped Pakistan's economy - [LINK] - August 2nd, 2024 Emeber Energy: China Cleantech Exports Data Explorer - [LINK] (updated monthly)
The group that is doing this report suggests batteries reduced by 83% in the last decade and will reduce by a further 80% in the next decade: this video They predict similar for wind and solar, and notably they correctly predicted the price drop of solar 10 years ago till today. Which seemed a crazy thing to suggest 10 years ago.
what are we doing with the nuclear waste? I mean in reality not in theory. Aren't renewables cheap enough also with energy storage? this video