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http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-industry-data

In 2012 something like 3.5 GW were installed for something like $12 billion USD.

See the graph titled "U.S. Solar Industry Forcast" for output

See the graph titled "Value of Yearly U.S. Solar Instalations" for cost

Personally, I hope that the US solar instalations will last more than 25 years. I also hope that Shell is paying Australia for the gass that is being pumped out. I presume that the total cost will be about the same as solar. However, natural gass is really usefull stuff and can be shipped and stored more efficiently than electricity. So even though the price is about the same as solar, the value is higher.




Do you know what they're quoting as capacity?

Installed capacity would seem to suggest peak MW. Later on in the report they say that 490MW of "combined electric capacity" in schools equates to 642 GWh, which suggests that they're figuring annual output to be about 15% of installed capacity.

So, is that 3.5GW of panels (in which case about 0.5GW averaged over a day) or 3.5GW of average capacity?


> I also hope that Shell is paying Australia for the gass that is being pumped out.

Why? Australia doesn't hold title to the oceans.


This area is being jointly developed by Australia and East Timor, I believe.

200 miles is standard for an Exclusive Economic Zone.


Prelude is not near East Timor, you may be thinking of Sunrise.

See eg. : http://www.smh.com.au/business/woodside-petroleum-calls-for-...


Who ownes title to the oceans though? Sure as hell Shell does not!




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