Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Solar power becoming world’s cheapest form of electricity production, analysts say 

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Solar power is becoming the cheapest way to generate electricity, according to leading analysts.

Data produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) showed the cost of solar in 58 lower-income countries – including China, Brazil and India – had fallen to about a third of levels in 2010 and was now slightly cheaper than wind energy.

In August, an auction to supply electricity in Chile achieved the record low price of $29.10 (£23.30) per megawatt-hour – a record low price and about half the price of a coal competitor.

 tau-island.jpgBNEF chairman Michael Liebreich said in a note to clients: “Renewables are robustly entering the era of undercutting [fossil fuel prices].”

Renewable energy is cheap in developing countries that are looking to add more electricity to their national grids.

“Renewable energy will beat any other technology in most of the world without subsidies,” Mr Liebreich said.

Nearly 50 countries vow to meet 100% renewable energy target

However, in rich nations where new renewable energy generators must compete with existing fossil fuel power stations the cost of carbon-free electricity can be higher.

The dramatic plunge in price had partly been produced by the economies of scale, with China in particular adding a vast amount of new solar capacity.

Ethan Zindler, head of US policy analysis at BNEF, said: “Solar investment has gone from nothing – literally nothing – like five years ago to quite a lot.

“A huge part of this story is China, which has been rapidly deploying solar.”

Beijing has also been helping other countries to pay for solar projects.

A BNEF report, called Climatescope, found China, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa, and India were the emerging markets most likely to attract investors in low-carbon energy projects.

Solar power has proved a godsend for remote islands such as Ta’u, part of America Samoa, in the South Pacific.

Once reliant on imports of vast amounts of diesel, it is now powered completely by 5,000 solar panels and 60 Tesla batteries

BNEF chairman Michael Liebreich said in a note to clients: “Renewables are robustly entering the era of undercutting [fossil fuel prices].”

Renewable energy is cheap in developing countries that are looking to add more electricity to their national grids.

“Renewable energy will beat any other technology in most of the world without subsidies,” Mr Liebreich said.

Nearly 50 countries vow to meet 100% renewable energy target

However, in rich nations where new renewable energy generators must compete with existing fossil fuel power stations the cost of carbon-free electricity can be higher.

The dramatic plunge in price had partly been produced by the economies of scale, with China in particular adding a vast amount of new solar capacity.

Ethan Zindler, head of US policy analysis at BNEF, said: “Solar investment has gone from nothing – literally nothing – like five years ago to quite a lot.

“A huge part of this story is China, which has been rapidly deploying solar.”

Beijing has also been helping other countries to pay for solar projects.

Watch the video.URL:http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/solar-power-worlds-cheapest-electricity-production-energy-wind-farms-a7477096.html?cmpid=facebook-post

Solar Delivers Cheapest Electricity ‘Ever, Anywhere, By Any Technology

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Half the price of coal!

Chile exceeded 1000 Megawatts of solar this year. 

Chile has just contracted for the cheapest unsubsidized power plant in the world, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reports.

In last week’s energy auction, Chile accepted a bid from Spanish developerSolarpack Corp. Tecnologica for 120 megawatts of solar at the stunning price of $29.10 per megawatt-hour (2.91 cents per kilowatt-hour or kwh). This beats the 2.99 cents/kwh bid Dubai received recently for 800 megawatts. For context, the average residential price for electricity in the United States is 12 cents per kilowatt-hour.

“Solar power delivers cheapest unsubsidised electricity ever, anywhere, by any technology,” BNEF Chair Michael Liebreich said on Twitter after this contract was announced.

Carlos Finat, head of the Chilean Renewable Energies Association (ACERA) told Bloomberg that the auction is “a strong warning sign that the energy business continues on the transition path to renewable power and that companies should adapt quickly to this transition process.” Indeed, in the same auction, the price of coal power was nearly twice as high!

Grid-connected solar power on Chile has quadrupled since 2013. Total installed capacity exceeded 1,000 megawatts this year — the most by far in South America. Another 2,000 megawatts is under construction, and there are over 11,000 megawatts that are “RCA Approved” (i.e. have environmental permits).

Chile is aided by the fact that its Atacama desert is “the region with the highest solar radiation on the planet,” according to the Inter-American Development Bank. So much solar is being built in the high-altitude desert that Northern Chile can’t use it all, and the government is rushing to buildnew transmission lines.

Chile is part of a global trend where solar energy has doubled seven times since 2000. In the U.S. alone, it has grown 100-fold in the past decade thanks to a sharp drop in prices that has brought the cost of solar (with subsidies) to under four cents a kilowatt hour in many places, as I detailed last month.

The future for solar could not be sunnier.