The future of solar power looks bright!
We had rooftop solar on our house for eight years before we moved. Half the price was paid by Ameren, the electric utility, and we got a 30% tax rebate on the balance. Even with that steep discount, we never got back our put, even in nominal dollars.
Solar panels are much cheaper now, and I gather installation costs have fallen as well, but rooftop solar is still subsidized here in Rhode Island. We’ve had a couple of solar salesmen drop by, but I point out that we have too many trees to make it worthwhile. One offered to arrange to have the trees cut down. I laughed: I wasn’t going to make reducing carbon capture the price of rooftop solar. Instead, we purchase our electricity from a solar farm instead of the local utility, which generates over 60% of its electricity from natural gas.
Overall, though, things are looking good for solar:
“At the current rate of growth, solar capacity will reach about a thousand gigawatts by 2030, which would probably be about half of total demand. Raw cost will drop from 30¢ per watt to 15¢ per watt, producing a levelized cost per kWh less than any other source.
“This, of course, assumes that both shipments and cost of solar modules can stay on their exponential paths for the rest of the decade.”
Cost of solar power through 2030
Solar panels are much cheaper now, and I gather installation costs have fallen as well, but rooftop solar is still subsidized here in Rhode Island. We’ve had a couple of solar salesmen drop by, but I point out that we have too many trees to make it worthwhile. One offered to arrange to have the trees cut down. I laughed: I wasn’t going to make reducing carbon capture the price of rooftop solar. Instead, we purchase our electricity from a solar farm instead of the local utility, which generates over 60% of its electricity from natural gas.
Overall, though, things are looking good for solar:
“At the current rate of growth, solar capacity will reach about a thousand gigawatts by 2030, which would probably be about half of total demand. Raw cost will drop from 30¢ per watt to 15¢ per watt, producing a levelized cost per kWh less than any other source.
“This, of course, assumes that both shipments and cost of solar modules can stay on their exponential paths for the rest of the decade.”
Cost of solar power through 2030
Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, I put in rooftop solar, 4 zone whole house Mini split Heat/AC, and a pellet stove. My solar generated a net credit of $900 over the summer months. I will use the credits to heat my house with the mini split for the “shoulder” winter months and the pellet stove during the colder months. I estimate to burn about $500 in pellets. My typical home’s energy needs (depending on oil/ electricity prices and the severity of weather) is about $5000-6000 per year. The energy costs savings will pay for the entire cost in about 5 years.
And then there is the environmental consideration. I know climate change is real but I don’t know how much man is contributing. But the way I see it, if we can take action to combat it we should. I guess the best analogy I can think of is: I don’t know if a seatbelt will ever save my life, but I wear one just in case.