A report from the UK Solar Trade Association (STA) says assuming the nation’s Government provides stable policy support, it will be cheaper to generate electricity from large scale solar plants than by burning gas as soon as 2018.
The Association says the cost of building large scale solar farms will drop faster than current Government estimates. The STA forecasts a 33% drop in costs to 2020, with a further 11% reduction in the period 2020–2030.
The report says solar PV could become cheaper than the wholesale electricity price between 2025 and 2028. It points out the generation of electricity through Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology costs £25/MWh more than the existing wholesale electricity price – so even fossil fuels require a subsidy.
The STA is urging the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to update its models so it can make informed decisions on the future energy mix for the UK.
“A lot of people still don’t realise just how close solar is to being competitive with gas-fired power generation,” said Solar Trade Association Paul Barwell.
“UK solar is on its way to becoming subsidy-free, but it is critical we maintain stable government policy that supports grid connected utility-scale solar as opposed to fossil fuel power stations.”
While solar power mightn’t seem like a good match for the UK, previous work by the Centre for Economics and Business Research determined solar panels could provide 15% of the UK’s electricity demands by 2030 and support nearly 50,000 jobs. An estimated 5GW of capacity has already been brought online within a four year time span.
The UK Government recently announced it intends to close the current Renewables Obligation program for solar farms larger than 5MW. This will slow the falling cost of large scale solar electricity generation says the Association.
“We just need one final push from Government to get solar to being subsidy-free,” said Mr. Barwell.
The report, Cost Reduction Potential Of Large Scale Solar PV, can be downloaded here (PDF).
