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The installed price of solar energy has declined significantly in recent years as policy and market forces have driven more and more solar installations.
Now, the latest data show that the continued decrease in solar prices is unlikely to slow down anytime soon, with total installed prices dropping by 5 percent for rooftop residential systems, and 12 percent for larger utility-scale solar farms. With solar already achieving record-low prices, the cost decline observed in 2015 indicates that the coming years will likely see utility-scale solar become cost competitive with conventional forms of electricity generation.
A full analysis of the ongoing decline in solar prices can be found in two separate Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Reports: Tracking the Sun IX focuses on installed pricing trends in the distributed rooftop solar market while Utility-Scale Solar 2015 focuses on large-scale solar farms that sell bulk power to the grid.
[...] The installed cost includes everything needed to get a solar power system up and running: the panels, the power electronics, the mounting hardware, and the installation itself. The continued decline in total installed cost is noteworthy considering the fact that the price of the solar panels (or modules) themselves has remained relatively flat since 2012. This means that the decline in installed cost observed since 2012 was largely caused by a decline in the cost of the inverters that convert the DC power produced by solar panels to AC power for the grid and other "soft" costs such as customer acquisition, system design, installation, and permitting.
[...] Going forward, the declining price of solar across all categories demonstrated by the latest Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reports coupled with the extension of the federal renewable energy investment tax credit through 2019 should drive a continued expansion of the U.S. solar market and even more favorable economics in the next few years. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of market dynamic develops as solar approaches the tipping point where it becomes more economical than conventional forms of electricity generation.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Tuesday August 30 2016, @04:55PM
or is it simply that USians can't conceive of buying a car without a big engine, aircon and an automatic gearbox?
This.
bigger === better
aircon is not optional unless you live in the far north (like Maine), or at very high altitude (like Colorado). Remember that the furthest south point in Great Britain is a higher latitude than essentially every point in the lower 48 states. Florida is entirely south of Morocco.
and why in $DIETY's name does every manufacturer in the US assume that no-one wants to drive a standard transmission??? The excuse that "women don't like the distraction" is insulting to my wife, sisters, mother, and daughter who ALL DO IT JUST FINE and like it better than automatics.
But yeah, you've got the U.S. figured out; no need to look much farther than this.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin