Clean renewable energy to become more affordable?

If this story is accurate, it could dramatically change the landscape in the fight for clean energy. It is a great example of why we can’t afford to spend billions of dollars to build new coal and nuclear plants when clean renewable energy is on the brink of being much more affordable in the near future (or in this case, possibly right now).

"Generating clean electricity that is as cheap as power from fossil fuels is the Holy Grail of green-energy companies. A new solar project powering California houses appears to be closing in on that prize. Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy in San Diego, has taken the wraps off a 10-megawatt solar farm in Nevada. That is small by industry standards, enough to light just 6,400 homes. But the ramifications are potentially enormous.

A veteran analyst has calculated that the solar farm can produce power at 7.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, less than the 9-cent benchmark for conventional electricity.

If that is so, it marks a milestone that advocates for renewable energy have longed for: "grid parity," in which electricity from the sun, wind or other green sources can meet or beat the price performance of carbon-based fuels."