I respect somebody in your field maintaining a sense of...

I respect somebody in your field maintaining a sense of realism.

What are your thoughts on the true cost competitiveness of solar and wind against existing sources?

I'm suspicious of biased reports claiming that both are now cheaper than conventional alternatives, as I suspect most examples are based on meeting peak use cases (with peak prices) as with most renewable implementations at present, and don't take into account system-wide concerns (storage, variable output, gas backups, network stability, etc.). Not to mention potential issues with commodity scarcity with greater adoption.

There's an obvious difference between supplying power for say 20% above baseload demand and supplying that stable minimum, and I think as the percentage of renewable power increases this will become more obvious. I've yet to see a comparison of a network entirely powered by renewables to a conventional network, nor any consideration of network issues.

(I'm trained as a physicist, not presently active in academia, so well aware of principles and realities of climate change.)