The Financial Times has published an interesting article on the increasingviability of solar power, whose costs have reduced by so much that they are now in a position to legitimately challenge conventional power sources, even without subisdies:
Until now, the idea that unsubsidised solar power could make enough financial sense to be competitive with conventional electricity has been largely confined to the realms of environmental campaigners and renewable energy advocates.
However, as solar panels become more efficient and vastly cheaper, and household power bills keep rising, analysts at some of the world’s largest financial institutions say such a prospect is indeed possible – and likely to cause profound disruption in the energy industry.
“We’re at a point now where demand starts to be driven by cold, hard economics rather than by subsidies and that is a game changer,” says Jason Channell of Citigroup.
Another global bank, UBS, says an “unsubsidised solar revolution” has begun that could eventually supply as much as 18 per cent of electricity demand in parts of Europe…
Such an outcome would have enormous implications for a conventional power industry long accustomed to its coal, gas or nuclear plants being the sole source of its customers’ electricity…
The Financial Times also provides the below charts showing how the cost of solar power electricity generation is falling as capacity is ramping-up:
I’ll admit that I know next to nothing about the economics of solar power in Australia. However, given that we live on one of the sunniest planets on earth, it would seem logical that our electricity generation moves in this direction.
