Solar chips are advanced silicon technology and as such exponentially improve in terms of efficiency and therefore prices. In the US, a record of the price of one MW of solar energy was reached, which will be produced using a new solar power plant.
The new giant solar power plant in Nevada will have an output of 300 MW after the completion of the 25-year plan, producing at a predetermined price of $ 23.76 per megawatt. The power plant can satisfy approximately 210,000 US households.
It is interesting that the price for this solar power plant is already a third compared to the cost of building a coal or gas plant with the same capacity, which, of course, has a lot more extra costs over the years during which they will provide electricity. As Earther pointed out, the construction of such a solar power plant will even come out cheaper than maintaining existing power plants on coal or natural gas.
While it is necessary to add that a 30% federal tax credit applies to solar power plants in the US, without even discounting this would still be a more advantageous solution than a natural gas or coal power plant.
An important novelty is also the use of batteries in such large solar projects. While three years ago, batteries at giant solar installations could hardly be seen, today they are starting to be standard and energy is supplied even when the sun is not on the solar panels. Indeed, Tesla is the perfect choice for this trend, which has begun to offer more power packs in 2015 and now boasts large installations around the world.
Donald Trump’s new attempts to promote fossil fuels instead of renewable sources, and even if, for example, the tariff to import cheaper solar panels from China has increased, the price drops so fast that it is at least a momentary slowdown or disadvantage. Only in the first quarter of 2018, 55% of all installed power plants in the US were built on solar cell technology. It was a total of 2.5 GW, a rate that has been maintained for the last ten quarters.
As the volume of installed solar power plants increases, the price that has fallen by 100 times from 1976 to 2016 is also decreasing. According to the Ourwolrdindata.org statistical website, with every doubling of installed world capacity, the price drops by about 22%.