LCOE

The head of Mercom Capital says solar has a long way to go before it can stand without policy support. Effective grid parity will only be achieved when the cost of PV electricity factors in the expense of grid upgrades and the storage systems its intermittent nature requires, says Raj Prabhu.

Using an application based on resource data and country-specific techno-economic inputs, a report has analyzed the costs of developing utility scale renewables in Southeast Asia and found abundant, cost-competitive potential.

A study of the relative costs of generation using coal and PV has focused on Vietnam as a case study as the nation is dependent on costly imports of seaborne coal. Analysts paint a straightforward picture explaining why a planned 32 GW new coal pipeline should be shelved.

At Intersolar Europe, Gamesa Electric’s solar sales director, Enrique de la Cruz explained the key to ensuring high reliability and a low energy price with the company’s new central inverter offering.

With clean energy being generated at lower and lower prices around the world, solar power is playing a leading role in bringing the curtain down on coal, and will help the decarbonization of transport and space heating too.

Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly posing a competitive threat to coal- and gas-fired generating plants when paired with solar and wind projects in a number of markets throughout the world, without the need for subsidies, according to new research by BloombergNEF (BNEF).

A European energy system powered solely by renewables is economically feasible, according to a study which suggests decentralized energy systems operating within the framework of a stronger pan-European energy trade could reduce the cost of electricity from the €69/MWh price seen four years ago to around €51 in 2050.

While solar is lauded as a cheap energy resource in OECD countries, the cost of financing PV projects in developing nations has impeded progress. Development banks and the Clean Technology Fund they finance have played a key role in providing access to cheap financing for clean energy projects in many markets.

The U.K. Solar Trade Association has published a new assessment, finding that the cost of generating solar electricity in the British Isles has already fallen far below its earlier predictions, and could reach GBP 40 (US$50)/MWh by 2030.

Solar and/or wind are said to be the cheapest source of new energy generation in all major economies, apart from Japan, finds BloombergNEF. It adds that China’s utility-scale PV market has contracted by over a third this year; and that battery costs are set to drop a further 66% by 2030, driven by EV adoption.