Skip to main content
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
MIT

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
PostJuly 14, 2021

The lurking threat to solar power’s growth

A solar farm in California's Death Valley.

A few lonely academics have been warning for years that solar power faces a fundamental challenge that could halt the industry’s breakneck growth. Simply put: the more solar you add to the grid, the less valuable it becomes.

The problem is that solar panels generate lots of electricity in the middle of sunny days, frequently more than what’s required, driving down prices—sometimes even into negative territory.

Unlike a natural gas plant, solar plant operators can’t easily throttle electricity up and down as needed, or space generation out through the day, night and dark winter. It’s available when it’s available, which is when the sun is shining. And that’s when all the other solar plants are cranking out electricity at maximum levels as well, writes James Temple for the MIT Technology Review.

A new report finds that California, which produces one of the largest shares of solar power in the world, is already acutely experiencing this phenomenon, known as solar value deflation.

Read the full story at: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/14/1028461/solar-value-deflation-california-climate-change/

Image credits: Getty

by MIT Technology Review
Topics
Energy
Renewable Energy
Finance & Economics
Industry & Manufacturing

Related Posts

PodcastMay 21, 2025

The economics of clean energy

MIT Energy Initiative
PostMay 21, 2025

Startup enables 100-year bridges with corrosion-resistant steel

MIT News
“Across the U.S., the typical bridge deck lasts about 30 years on average — we’re enabling 100-year lifetimes,” says Allium Engineering co-founder and CEO Steven Jepeal PhD ’21.
PostMay 20, 2025

How to solve a bottleneck for CO2 capture and conversion

MIT News
MIT researchers added nanoscale filtering membranes to a carbon-capture system, separating the ions that carry out the capture and release steps, and enabling both steps to proceed more efficiently.
PostMay 19, 2025

MIT students turn vision to reality

MIT News
Shekinah Pita (second from left) with Kapiyo community members

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
MIT Climate Project
MIT
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner