Solar will soon be cheaper than coal, without subsidies - Statkraft CEO

Eam Solar AS

11/01/2018 10:06

OSLO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Norway's state owned power firm 
Statkraft STATKF.UL  expects a faster shift to renewable 
energies as the cost of new solar and wind capacity falls below 
coal, even without subsidies, in the next decade, CEO Christian 
Rynning-Toennesen said on Thursday. 
    * "There will be a lot of new business opportunities arising 
from the push into renewables. We need to adapt and look for 
these new possibilities", Rynning-Toennesen told a conference in 
Oslo. 
    * "What we have seen is just the beginning", he said. 
    * "Within around seven years we expect new solar to compete 
with the existing OPEX (operating expenses) of coal, meaning 
that we are reaching a point where new solar can compete away 
coal on a pure cost basis without any subsidies at all". 
    * "In almost all our markets, new solar and new onshore wind 
are already the lowest cost technologies of any type when it 
comes to new electricity." 
    * "Here in Scandinavia, new onshore wind is the cheapest 
form of new electricity that we can bring onto the grid." 
    * Rynning-Toennesen said that this combined with systems of 
additional revenues for renewable energy has brought an 
"enormous growth and it continues both in Europe and in emerging 
markets." 
    * "These are also technologies that are not difficult to 
construct. You don't need a big skill set to set up a solar or 
wind park." 
    * "So the barriers are low to enter the market and the 
possibilities for new companies who have never been in the 
energy industry are there and the competition is extremely 
strong", said Rynning-Toennesen. 
 
 (Reporting by Joachim Dagenborg, editing by Ole Petter Skonnord 
and Alister Doyle) 
 ((joachim.dagenborg@thomsonreuters.com; +47 233 16 592; Reuters 
Messaging: joachim.dagenborg.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))