Electrek green energy brief: Exxon CEO hid climate change talks, 50,000 battery systems in Germany, ¢6.3/kWh solar+storage, more

Exxon CEO hid climate change communications from legal probe – First off, #exxonknew and they continued to pay third parties to lie to the public about the effect of CO2 on climate change. And they know the bell will soon toll – the question is how long can they hold off the wolves of public opinion, how much more cash can be generated? That’s all it comes down to. Money.
EIA probably going to underestimate their solar development projection, again – It’s almost a joke how the EIA constantly underestimates how much solar power will be built, and this matters because it influences policy and the public. Of course, it is a bit more complicated than a batch of great scientists missing data – and the EIA has responded to these criticisms. I’ll take the path that we need not look at the EIA for solar power projections in the USA – it’s not their job and they don’t focus on it (as they say clearly in their report). That means government folk ought not to pay attention to the projections and instead maybe look at Greentech Media who seems to get pretty close every year.
A carbon dividend really can slow fossil fuel use — under these conditions – First off, I don’t like this article at all. Don’t like how they describe things – and don’t like their conclusions/parallels to other programs. The reason I grabbed the article – I think whomever is writing this document is getting a nudge to use the term ‘carbon dividend’ in a headline.
Australia will drive utility battery storage market – A few days ago, Elon and the PM of Australia got into a battery conversation regarding South Australia, yesterday Victoria – South Australia’s neighbor – announced its own utility scale battery tender. With the price of electricity and the apparent instability of the grid, seems like fast deploying batteries might be a winner…and with the press going crazy watching.
Germany has 50,000 battery installs currently, 100,000 by end of 2018 – How does one fix too much wind/solar? You distribute hundreds of thousands of home battery systems around the country. Stop doubting.
Solar thermal + storage at ¢6.3/kWh – You want electricity 24/7? Yeah, I do too. You want it to not kill your planet? Hey, me too! The Chinese government has decided to invest in 10GW of solar thermal to help the technology scale – we might be seeing the resulting pricing of the belief in that scaling.
Sungevity goes bankrupt while Vivint extends credit access – and SunRun grow 36% – what these conflicting headlines tell me is that residential solar leasing isn’t a bad business model, but maybe it has its limits in terms of market players and maybe you have to do it damn well to be successful (shocker)
source: https://electrek.co/