Solar prices have been declining rapidly over the last 10 years, making the renewable energy source more and more affordable, globally. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), solar and wind power have already reached grid parity in a number of European countries, China, and the State of California (PV Magazine). The key drivers behind the drive to affordable energy are lower solar module prices and reduction in balance of systems costs (BoS) (IRENA).
The graph below shows that India, Italy, and China are the world’s most competitive PV markets, as of 2018, according to IRENA:
A sustained and dramatic decline in the cost of electricity from utility scale PV is forecast to continue, helping to continue to drive the reduction in the global weighted average LCOE of solar (IRENA). New technological investments and module design will help to reduce prices globally, with high purity quartz playing a key role in solar PV monocrystalline ingot efficiency improvements. To find out more about how the Quartz Corp is helping to make solar energy more affordable, please download our datasheets or contact us directly.