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Record low prices for unsubsidised solar power

Think Progress 20th Oct 2017, Prices for new solar power projects are falling so fast that the cheapest prices from 2016 have become the ceiling price for solar today. In April 2016, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reported that the record low unsubsidized solar energy price was 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), in aMarch 2016 contract in Mexico.

This month, every single bid that Saudi Arabia received for its 300-Megawatt (MW) Sakaka solar project was cheaper than that. The lowest bid price was 1.79 cents/kWh.

For context, the average residential price for electricity in the United States is more than
six times that, 12 cents/kWh. The jaw-dropping price of 1.79 cents is not about to become the new ceiling for solar bids — since the market conditions in Saudi Arabia are fairly unique and it’s not clear the
bidder, Masdar (owned by the United Arab Emirates) and its French partner EDF would actually make money at that price.

But, still, seven of the eight bids were below three cents — and the two lowest bids were “the lowest
prices ever recorded at a global level,” as PV magazine noted.
https://thinkprogress.org/stunner-lowest-price-solar-power-f3b620d04010/

October 25, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized