Source: Slashdot: Hardware
After a decade of solar capacity additions and coal plant retirements, the U.S. has crossed a point where renewable generation now outcompetes fossil fuels on a monthly basis—not just in capacity installed but in actual electrons delivered to the grid. The immediate consequence is a compressed timeline for infrastructure investment: utilities and policymakers can no longer treat grid modernization as a future problem when the fuel mix is already shifting under real-time operational pressure. Solar's sustained profitability (even without subsidies in many markets) against aging coal economics has created a self-reinforcing cycle where each coal plant closure accelerates adoption curves for storage and grid management, leaving legacy energy companies with stranded assets rather than a managed transition.