Annual solar irradiance differs by about 2-3x between the darkest and sunniest inhabited places. So on paper, if the world only used solar, the darker places would have ~3x more expensive electricity (it’s a little higher because seasonal variation and clouds increase the required number of batteries).
If solar achieves $20/MWh in sunny places, $60/MWh in cloudy places isn’t too bad! That’s cheaper than wholesale electricity prices in most places today.
As for whether renewables can lower electricity prices, looking at wholesale electricity pricing is tricky because governments do a lot of weird things managing the grid and setting prices. Good review here:
Annual solar irradiance differs by about 2-3x between the darkest and sunniest inhabited places. So on paper, if the world only used solar, the darker places would have ~3x more expensive electricity (it’s a little higher because seasonal variation and clouds increase the required number of batteries).
https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=35.245619,-93.603516,3&s=30.448674,105.117188&m=site
If solar achieves $20/MWh in sunny places, $60/MWh in cloudy places isn’t too bad! That’s cheaper than wholesale electricity prices in most places today.
As for whether renewables can lower electricity prices, looking at wholesale electricity pricing is tricky because governments do a lot of weird things managing the grid and setting prices. Good review here:
https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/do-renewables-make-electricity-cheaper