The road ahead for solar PV power

Stephen Comello, Stefan Reichelstein and Anshuman Sahoo

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018, vol. 92, issue C, 744-756

Abstract: Over the past decade, solar photovoltaic (PV) power has experienced dramatic deployment growth coupled with substantial decreases in system prices. This article examines how solar PV power is currently positioned in the electricity marketplace and how that position is likely to evolve in the foreseeable future. We first assess the current cost competitiveness of solar PV in select U.S. locations and industry segments using the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) metric. This framework enables us to quantify the effects that supportive public policies, time-of-use pricing, and anticipated future technological improvements have on the cost of solar PV. We also build on recent analytical work that has identified circumstances under which it becomes financially attractive to add behind-the-meter batteries to an existing PV solar system. Taken together, our findings suggest that solar power, by itself and in conjunction with low cost storage, is positioned to account for a significant and growing share of the overall energy mix.

Keywords: Solar PV; Levelized cost of electricity; Public policy; Time-of-use pricing; Tax policy; Battery storage; Forecast (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q20 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032118303125
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:92:y:2018:i:c:p:744-756

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2018.04.098

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().