Solar panels are rapidly getting cheaper

The cost of solar panels in the U.S. continues to decline: in 2013, they fell by another 15%, according to the report the U.S. Department of energy and National laboratory Lawrence Berkeley (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). The report, entitled "Reaching for the Sun" covers the period from 1998 to early 2014 across the United States.

In 2012-2013, a fall in the value amounted to 12-15% depending on installation size. The average cost of installed capacity was in 2013, 4.7 per dollar per watt for installations with a capacity less than 10 kW, 4.3 per dollar for installations in the range of 10-100 kW, and 3.9 dollars per watt for installations over 100 kW.

The report covers 300 thousand individual, corporate and energy of photovoltaic installations in 33 States covering at least 80% of the network to generate solar electricity. The Ministry of energy act, the programme, which aims to reduce by 2020 the cost of generating capacity of photovoltaic plants up to 75%.

The report notes that the main source of reducing the cost of power was the collapse of prices for the modules themselves: the cost of panels per watt has fallen from 2008 to 2013 by 2.7 per dollar.

The report also provides data which over the past year the size of the incentives and support programs for installation of solar modules has declined significantly following the depreciation of the panels. The total amount of all payments and bonuses with a maximum value of 10 years ago was reduced by 85-95%.

However, the report notes that in comparison with other industrialized countries, except Japan, the cost of solar electricity in the US is still large. For example, in Germany the cost per watt of installed capacity of photovoltaic plants is approximately 50% lower than in the US.

Source: green-city.su/