US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in just one year

[Suppressed]

US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in just one year
By Christian Roselund on 18 September 2017    PV Magazine

Only ten days before the U.S. solar industry finds out whether or not it will have to deal with trade remedies imposed by the Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) put out a new report showing new low costs for solar in the first quarter of 2017.

U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2017 shows PV system prices falling roughly 30 per cent in only one year for utility-scale solar, to an average price of $1.03 per watt-DC for fixed-tilt systems and $1.11 per watt for systems with tracking.



[...]

This in turn is largely due to a mismatch between supply and demand in China, which has caused significant pain for module makers, and it is not coincidence that there is currently a case before the U.S. government on potential trade protection for U.S. solar cell and module makers.

[...]

Excerpt.  Read more at http://reneweconomy.com.au/us-solar-plant-costs-fall-another-30-per-cent-in-just-one-year-49419/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@thackney - time for one of those great charts you are good at doing showing the relative cost of solar vs alternatives.

Am certain it will still be way, way above conventional fuels to generate power.

[thackney]

@thackney - time for one of those great charts you are good at doing showing the relative cost of solar vs alternatives.

Am certain it will still be way, way above conventional fuels to generate power.

The Ivanpah solar thermal plant in southern California generates electricity at a cost of $200 per megawatt hour, or 20 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s nearly six times the cost of electricity from natural gas-fired power plants.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/04/solar-power-is-always-a-decade-away-from-being-cheaper-than-coal/

- - - - - -

Sunlight is free, but harnessing solar power to make electricity “remains considerably more expensive when compared to conventional electricity sources such as coal, natural gas, or nuclear,” according to a new study commissioned by the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/study-solar-power-remains-considerably-more-expensive-electricity

- - - - - -

In a finding that is likely to boost controversy over the future of U.S. energy policy, a comprehensive study of the full levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from various sources of electricity conducted by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Energy Institute found that wind turbines and natural gas combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) provide the least expensive options for new generation across a large majority of U.S. counties.

http://www.powermag.com/natural-gas-and-wind-are-cheapest-sources-of-power-in-majority-of-u-s/

[kidd]

US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in just one year

Excellent news.

Now we can end the subsidies,
address the true toxicity of manufacturing/operating solar cells,
figure out how to overcome <50% availability, and
start publishing the real installed cost of solar power

[Joe Wooten]

Excellent news.

Now we can end the subsidies,
address the true toxicity of manufacturing/operating solar cells,
figure out how to overcome <50% availability, and
start publishing the real installed cost of solar power