Solar Power's Increasing Competitiveness
Marc Chandler | Jun 05, 2013 01:56PM ET
This Great Graphic was posted on Monetary Realism by Michael Sankowski, who says he found it on Forbes. It shows how the average price of installed photovoltaic solar prices for different market segments (residential, non-residential, utilities and a blended rate) and the general decline seen in a few quarters through the third quarter last year.
The Photovoltaic Law
While many are familiar with Moore's Law regarding the pace of increased capacity of semiconductor chips, we previously noted a similar "law" in terms of photovoltaic capability.
It appears the decline in the cost of PV solar power has accelerated in recent years to around 20% per annum over the last several years. At this rate solar power will be competitive with coal by the end of the decade.
Changing Landscape
Currently solar power accounts for about 16% of the retail market. The changing competitive landscape can see it more than double its market share be the 2020.
The cheap energy meme is not just about fossil fuels and coal, though that is important too, but also solar. It reinforces the likelihood that that U.S. can be energy self-sufficient. At the U.S. moves in this direction, it will have a favorable direct impact on U.S. external accounts and indirect impact insofar as more more manufacturing is attracted to the cheaper energy to service what will continue to be among the most important consumer markets in the world.
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