Solar power drops to $1 per watt, nears parity with oil
Solar energy costs have dropped steadily and consistently over the past 30 years. In the late 1970s solar energy cost $100 per watt. Even though the price with the newest solar technology has now fallen to under $1 per watt, that price will almost certainly continue to drop.
key excerpts of an article on solar energy breaking the $1 per watt barrier, as reported in Popular Mechanics, one of the few major media publications to publish this exciting, milestone story.
key excerpts of an article on solar energy breaking the $1 per watt barrier, as reported in Popular Mechanics, one of the few major media publications to publish this exciting, milestone story.
A long-sought solar milestone was eclipsed on Tuesday, when Tempe, Ariz.–based First Solar Inc. announced that the manufacturing costs for its thin-film photovoltaic panels had dipped below $1 per watt for the first time. With comparable costs for standard silicon panels still hovering in the $3 range, it's tempting to conclude that First Solar's cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology has won the race.full article here
[Yet] even if the solar cell market were to grow at 56 percent a year for the next 10 years—slightly higher than the rapid growth of the past year—photovoltaics would still only account for about 2.5 percent of global electricity, LBNL researcher Cyrus Wadia says. "First Solar is great, as long as we're talking megawatts or gigawatts," he says. "But as soon as they have to start rolling out terawatts, that's where I believe they will reach some limitations." Even the current rate of growth won't be easy to sustain.
Labels: economics, energy, solar
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