Germany's Solar Panels Could Power the Whole of Australia

On Friday Germany's solar panels had a peak output of over 22 gigawatts.  Yesterday at noon the whole of Australia used 22 gigawatts of electric power.  Germany's solar capacity could power our entire continent.  Or at least it could on sunny weekends.

German Installed Solar PV Under $2.30 a Watt

According to Germans, installed solar PV in Germany now costs under $2.30 a watt.  That's pretty damn cheap.  For most Australians solar at that cost would provide electricity at about, um... Now what's that economic rule of thumb Ned Kelly taught me?  Oh yeah, 10% of the initial cost of the system to account for capital costs and depreciation, divided by kilowatt-hours produced per year.  That gives a cost of about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour for most Australians, or roughly half of what Australians currently pay.  It is obvious that Australia is going to get a large chunk of its electricity from solar in the not very distant future and I am continually surprised by the large number of people who don't seem to realise this.