New evidence that solar progress is accelerating

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Quick Take: Yeah, yeah, you've been hearing about solar, but it won't be a big deal in your service territory for a while. Is that what you're thinking? New research from a national laboratory suggests that solar costs are falling fast, meaning that solar could soon become cost-competitive in your region. – By Jesse Berst

Three new reports from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) document the accelerating progress of solar energy.

For instance, the price of electricity sold to utilities from large-scale solar power projects has fallen by more than 70% since 2008, to $50 per MWh. And the average installed price of those projects dropped by more than 33% since the 2007-2009 period.

As for rooftop solar, an annual LBNL cost report reveals that installed prices for residential and commercial PV systems fell by 12-15% in 2013 compared to the prior year.

“This marked the fourth consecutive year of significant price reductions for residential and commercial systems in the U.S.,” explains Galen Barbose, one of the report’s authors. Within the first six months of 2014, prices for such PV systems in many of the largest state markets have continued on their downward trajectory.

But regulations may block future progress

However, prices vary widely by region. A third report, How Much Do Local Regulations Matter?, suggest that much of this variation in residential PV pricing is driven by differences in local permitting and other regulatory procedures.  Variations in permitting can drive differences in prices of as much as $900 for a typical residential PV installation.

“A variety of efforts are underway to make local procedures less onerous, and more conducive to solar market growth,” explains Ryan Wiser of LBNL. “These results highlight the magnitude of PV price reductions that might be possible through streamlining burdensome local regulatory procedures.”

This research was supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. The SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national effort that aggressively drives innovation to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional energy sources before the end of the decade. Through SunShot, DOE supports efforts by private companies, universities, and national laboratories to drive down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. Learn more at energy.gov/sunshot.