In a single generation, the cost of solar panels has plummeted by an astounding 99 per cent. The price collapse is remarkable. It also proves that energy markets are being propelled by technology.
For centuries, the rhythmic hum of turbines, powered first by coal, then by oil and gas, has been the heartbeat of industrial progress. But their proliferation is less the story of free markets than power and manipulation. As early as the 1870s, John D Rockefeller of Standard Oil colluded and consolidated to manipulate the supply and price of oil. A century later, Opec’s oil embargo plunged the US into recession. We still feel its aftershocks today. Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas served to reinforce the point: the whims of an autocrat can choke the lifeblood of modern economies.
Now, however, barrels of oil and sacks of coal can be left on the loading yard, replaced by solar panels, wind turbines and batteries.