39. Greg Nemet on how solar became cheap (with Energy vs Climate)

Challenging Climate

Today’s episode is brought to you in collaboration with our friends at the Energy vs Climate podcast. Energy vs Climate breaks down the trade-offs and hard truths of the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond with energy experts David Keith, Sara Hastings-Simon and Ed Whittingham.
In this episode, they speak with Greg Nemet, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. His research focuses on technological change in energy and the ways in which public policy can affect it. Listen as they discuss the trajectory of solar energy, coming down the cost curve and the energy supply chain.
Links:

• Energy vs Climate Podcast
• Greg Nemet’s profile
• Check out Greg’s book, How Solar Energy Became Cheap

Topic links:

• Nemet’s paper on Inter-technology knowledge spillovers for energy technologies (Timestamp: 07:43)
• Paper on Evaluating the causes of cost reduction in photovoltaic modules (Timestamp: 24:18)
• NREL Report on U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmark: Q1 2020 (Timestamp: 27:21)

Originally published on The Energy vs Climate show on 24 Feb 2022.

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Chapters

1. 39. Greg Nemet on how solar became cheap (with Energy vs Climate) (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:22)

3. Energy vs Climate: How Solar Energy Became Cheap (00:02:04)

4. Intro and background: Greg Nemet (00:06:59)

5. Solar curve (00:09:06)

6. Expert Assessments of Future Photovoltaic Technologies (00:12:37)

7. Cost of Energy Technologies (00:16:36)

8. Learning curves (00:18:03)

9. Modularity (00:23:22)

10. International Supply Chain (00:31:39)

11. What China can do (00:35:18)

12. Policy Instruments (00:39:00)

13. Q&A (00:41:16)

14. Carbon pricing and innovation (00:44:04)