Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Big solar now competing with wind energy on costs
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/big-solar-now-competing-with-wind-energy-on-costs-75962
Big solar now competing with wind energy on costs
By Giles Parkinson on 30 September 2013
The cost of large-scale solar projects has fallen by one third in the last five years and big solar now competes with wind energy in the solar-rich south-west of the United States, according to new research.
The study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled “Utility-Scale Solar 2012: An Empirical Analysis of Project Cost, Performance, and Pricing Trends in the United States” – says the cost of solar is still falling and contracts for some solar projects are being struck as low as $50/MWh (including a 30 per cent federal tax credit).
The LBNL study is the first detailed investigation on the costs of “big solar”. The US has more than 4,000MW of utility-scale solar (any installation more than 2MW) and has been building them since the 1980s. The US has more “big solar” than rooftop solar, in contrast with Australia, where nearly all solar capacity has been built on rooftops.
<snip>
<snip>
Another interesting observation from LBNL is that most of the contracts written in recent years do not escalate in nominal dollars over the life of the contract. This means that in real dollar terms, the pricing of the contract actually declines.
This means that towards the end of their contracts, the solar plants (including PV, CSP and CPV) contracted in 2013 will on average will be delivering electricity at less than $40/MWh. This is likely to be considerably less than fossil fuel plants at the same time, given the expected cost of fuels and any environmental regulations.
<snip>
Big solar now competing with wind energy on costs
By Giles Parkinson on 30 September 2013
The cost of large-scale solar projects has fallen by one third in the last five years and big solar now competes with wind energy in the solar-rich south-west of the United States, according to new research.
The study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled “Utility-Scale Solar 2012: An Empirical Analysis of Project Cost, Performance, and Pricing Trends in the United States” – says the cost of solar is still falling and contracts for some solar projects are being struck as low as $50/MWh (including a 30 per cent federal tax credit).
The LBNL study is the first detailed investigation on the costs of “big solar”. The US has more than 4,000MW of utility-scale solar (any installation more than 2MW) and has been building them since the 1980s. The US has more “big solar” than rooftop solar, in contrast with Australia, where nearly all solar capacity has been built on rooftops.
<snip>
<snip>
Another interesting observation from LBNL is that most of the contracts written in recent years do not escalate in nominal dollars over the life of the contract. This means that in real dollar terms, the pricing of the contract actually declines.
This means that towards the end of their contracts, the solar plants (including PV, CSP and CPV) contracted in 2013 will on average will be delivering electricity at less than $40/MWh. This is likely to be considerably less than fossil fuel plants at the same time, given the expected cost of fuels and any environmental regulations.
<snip>
