IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v55y2013icp117-127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The prospects for cost competitive solar PV power

Author

Listed:
  • Reichelstein, Stefan
  • Yorston, Michael

Abstract

New solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations have grown globally at a rapid pace in recent years. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the cost competitiveness of this electric power source. Based on data available for the second half of 2011, we conclude that utility-scale PV installations are not yet cost competitive with fossil fuel power plants. In contrast, commercial-scale installations have already attained cost parity in the sense that the generating cost of power from solar PV is comparable to the retail electricity prices that commercial users pay, at least in certain parts of the U.S. This conclusion is shown to depend crucially on both the current federal tax subsidies for solar power and an ideal geographic location for the solar installation. Projecting recent industry trends into the future, we estimate that utility-scale solar PV facilities are on track to become cost competitive by the end of this decade. Furthermore, commercial-scale installations could reach “grid parity” in about ten years, if the current federal tax incentives for solar power were to expire at that point.

Suggested Citation

  • Reichelstein, Stefan & Yorston, Michael, 2013. "The prospects for cost competitive solar PV power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 117-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:117-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.11.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512009688
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.11.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Branker, K. & Pathak, M.J.M. & Pearce, J.M., 2011. "A review of solar photovoltaic levelized cost of electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4470-4482.
    2. Paul L. Joskow, 2011. "Comparing the Costs of Intermittent and Dispatchable Electricity Generating Technologies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 238-241, May.
    3. Özge .Ic{s}legen & Stefan Reichelstein, 2011. "Carbon Capture by Fossil Fuel Power Plants: An Economic Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 21-39, January.
    4. Timilsina, Govinda R. & Kurdgelashvili, Lado & Narbel, Patrick A., 2011. "A review of solar energy : markets, economics and policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5845, The World Bank.
    5. Severin Borenstein, 2012. "The Private and Public Economics of Renewable Electricity Generation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 67-92, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zipp, Alexander, 2015. "Revenue prospects of photovoltaic in Germany—Influence opportunities by variation of the plant orientation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 86-97.
    2. Tomosk, Steve & Haysom, Joan E. & Hinzer, Karin & Schriemer, Henry & Wright, David, 2017. "Mapping the geographic distribution of the economic viability of photovoltaic load displacement projects in SW USA," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 101-112.
    3. Lanshina, Tatiana A. & “Skip” Laitner, John A. & Potashnikov, Vladimir Y. & Barinova, Vera A., 2018. "The slow expansion of renewable energy in Russia: Competitiveness and regulation issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 600-609.
    4. Larsson, Simon & Fantazzini, Dean & Davidsson, Simon & Kullander, Sven & Höök, Mikael, 2014. "Reviewing electricity production cost assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 170-183.
    5. Severin Borenstein & James Bushnell, 2015. "The US Electricity Industry After 20 Years of Restructuring," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 437-463, August.
    6. René Aïd & Matteo Basei & Huyên Pham, 2020. "A McKean–Vlasov approach to distributed electricity generation development," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 91(2), pages 269-310, April.
    7. Batas Bjelic, Ilija & Ciric, Rade M., 2014. "Optimal distributed generation planning at a local level – A review of Serbian renewable energy development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 79-86.
    8. La Monaca, Sarah & Ryan, Lisa, 2017. "Solar PV where the sun doesn’t shine: Estimating the economic impacts of support schemes for residential PV with detailed net demand profiling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 731-741.
    9. Oskar Lecuyer & Adrien Vogt-Schilb, 2013. "Assessing and ordering investments in polluting fossil-fueled and zero-carbon capital," CIRED Working Papers hal-00850680, HAL.
    10. Fabra, Natalia & Montero, Juan Pablo, 2020. "Technology-Neutral vs. Technology-Specific Procurement," CEPR Discussion Papers 15554, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Lion Hirth, 2015. "The Optimal Share of Variable Renewables: How the Variability of Wind and Solar Power affects their Welfare-optimal Deployment," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    12. Koumparou, Ioannis & Christoforidis, Georgios C. & Efthymiou, Venizelos & Papagiannis, Grigoris K. & Georghiou, George E., 2017. "Configuring residential PV net-metering policies – A focus on the Mediterranean region," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 795-812.
    13. Nicholas Ryan, 2020. "Holding Up Green Energy," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2294, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    14. Donald N. Dewees, 2013. "The Economics of Renewable Electricity Policy in Ontario," Working Papers tecipa-478, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    15. Karel Janda & Štěpán Krška & Jan Průša, 2014. "Česká fotovoltaická energie: modelový odhad nákladů na její podporu [Czech Photovoltaic Energy: Model Estimation of The Costs of its Support]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(3), pages 323-346.
    16. Majah-Leah Ravago & James Roumasset, 2016. "The Public Economics of Electricity Policy with Philippine Applications," Working Papers 201613, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    17. Glenk, Gunther & Reichelstein, Stefan, 2021. "Intermittent versus dispatchable power sources: An integrated competitive assessment," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-065, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Konsta Värri & Sanna Syri, 2019. "The Possible Role of Modular Nuclear Reactors in District Heating: Case Helsinki Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    19. Timilsina, Govinda R., 2021. "Are renewable energy technologies cost competitive for electricity generation?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 658-672.
    20. Bistline, John E. & Comello, Stephen D. & Sahoo, Anshuman, 2018. "Managerial flexibility in levelized cost measures: A framework for incorporating uncertainty in energy investment decisions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 211-225.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:117-127. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.