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Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Solar PV Rapidly Becoming the Cheapest Option to Generate Electricity

Author:     KEES VAN DER LEUN
Source:     Grist
Publication Date:     10/11/2011 6:57
 Link: Solar PV Rapidly Becoming the Cheapest Option to Generate Electricity
Stephan:   This is very good news, and I am sure the American invented, but German and Chinese built equipment we will import will make a huge difference in the Green transition out of the petroleum era. Kees van der Leun has an M.Sc. in physics from Utrecht University. In 1986, he joined Ecofys as its third employee. Ecofys is an international consultancy specialized in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate change. At present, he is its COO. Click through to see the graphs which accompany this report, and you can also download the reports referenced in this piece.

For a long time, the holy grail of solar photovoltaics (PV) has been ‘grid parity,’ the point at which it would be as cheap to generate one’s own solar electricity as it is to buy electricity from the grid. And that is indeed an important market milestone, being achieved now in many places around the world. But recently it has become clear that PV is set to go beyond grid parity and become the cheapest way to generate electricity.

Whenever I say this I encounter incredulity, even vehement opposition, from friends and foes of renewable energy alike. Apparently, knowledge of the rapid developments of the last few years has not been widely disseminated. But it’s happening, right under our noses! It is essential to understand this so that we can leverage it to rapidly switch to a global energy system fully based on renewable energy.

Solar cells.A hundred solar cells, good for 380 watts of solar PV power.Photo: Ariane van DijkWorking on solar PV energy at Ecofys since 1986, I have seen steady progression: efficiency goes up, cost goes down. But it was only on a 2004 visit to Q-Cells’ solar cell factory in Thalheim, Germany, that it dawned on me that […]

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