From pv magazine USA.
The Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force established in the U.S. by the Democratic presidential nominee and his former rival has published a report calling for the installation of 500 million solar modules in five years.
Although panel sizes and outputs vary widely these days, that nevertheless amounts to hundreds of gigawatts of solar generation capacity and several times the current national appetite for PV.
The report covers renewables, energy storage, energy efficiency and clean transportation as well as progressive policies on criminal justice reform, climate change, health care, closing the racial wealth gap and, explicitly: “undoing the harms of the Trump administration and righting the wrongs.”
On renewables, the task force aims to:
- Dramatically expand solar and wind energy deployment through community-based and utility scale systems. Within five years, states the report, “we will install 500 million solar panels, including eight million solar roofs and community solar energy systems and 60,000 made-in-America onshore and offshore wind turbines”
- Cut red tape, by promoting fast and easy permitting for rooftop solar and energy retrofits
- Launch a battery storage and clean energy transmission line moonshot to super-charge investment in innovation and the deployment of American-made battery technology and clean energy transmission lines
- Improve transmission planning by increasing transparency and fairness in the power markets for clean energy generators. The report also aims to develop and implement a long-term transmission plan to deliver more renewables
- Adopt scaled-up tax credits for renewable energy projects that meet labor standards
The Democratic Party plan could upend four years of fossil-fuel favoritism and acknowledges “climate change is a global emergency.”
The task force stated: “We have no time to waste in taking action to protect Americans’ lives and futures. From Houston, Texas, to Paradise, California; from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Davenport, Iowa, the last four years have seen record-breaking storms, devastating wildfires and historic floods. Urban and rural communities alike have suffered tens of billions of dollars [of] economic losses. Dams have failed catastrophically in Michigan. Neighborhoods have been all but wiped off the map in Florida. Farmers’ crops have been drowned in their fields across the Midwest. Thousands of Americans have died. And President Trump still callously and willfully denies the science that explains why so many are suffering.”
Author: Eric Wesoff
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I don’t think this is as large of an increase from current trends as it may seem. If you assume the average “PV module” is 500 watts, 500M panels = 250 GW (over 5 years). In 2019, the U.S. installed 13.3 GW of PV. The current projection for 2020 installs is 18 GW (according to the U.S. Solar Industries Association and energy research firm Wood Mackenzie), which would be 33% growth.
Assuming 18 GW as a starting point, and a sustained 36.3% growth rate in the install rate each year, we’ll hit the goal of 250 GW in 5 years. Yes, it sounds amazing, but the history of the rate of PV installs HAS BEEN AMAZING for many years now.
Check my math:
Projected 2020 installs 18 GW
Growth Rate to achieve goal 36.3%
PV installed in 2021 24.5 GW
PV installed in 2022 33.4 GW
PV installed in 2023 45.6 GW
PV installed in 2024 62.1 GW
PV installed in 2025 84.7 GW
Total over 5 years 250.4 GW
The Biden-Sanders Plan is a really good beggining for the USA after 4 years of Climate Abuse by The Trump Administration.
The USA needs ~8TW Solar Energy System to be “Carbon Free”…. and will probably cost $15 Trillion (including 20-25% Energy Storage for Night Time)….
If the target is 2050…. that is 30 Years … or $500 Billion/yr… quite reasonable too.