Dramatically reducing the cost of solar panels
Dramatically reducing the cost of solar panels
A watt of solar energy was worth $77 back in 1977. Now it’s worth about 80 cents.
But in order for solar panels to really replace conventional sources of energy, we need them to get even cheaper.
Some companies are harvesting their environment to disrupt the energy market while Henry Snaith of Oxford is trying to dramatically reduce the cost of solar energy:
Dr Snaith plans to replace silicon, the material used to make most solar cells, with a substance called a perovskite. This, he believes, could cut the cost of a watt of solar generating capacity by three-quarters.
The Impending Rise Of Solar Power
The Impending Rise Of Solar Power
Christopher Mims for Quartz:
All this will encourage yet more homeowners, businesses and communities to buy solar panels as power from the grid gets more expensive. You can see where this is going: The EEI says it could become a feedback loop that eventually wrecks the whole US utility industry, or at least greatly diminishes it.
Eventually, people will only be using the grid as a backup, combining ever-cheaper solar panels with ever more affordable batteries to store the power for when the sun isn’t shining. That’s called an energy transition.
The gist is that as solar panels continue to get cheaper, more people will install and use them. This, in turn, will cause the traditional electric companies to jack up rates to offset the decreased usage (they have pay off long-term plant investments). And that, in turn, will cause more people to buy solar panels.
Yes but electric power companies could restructure and offer solar energy services.