Solar Cells at 3.7 Cents Per Watt

[Meredith Poor + 894]

Lowest price I've seen for individual solar cells so far. Minimum order requirement is 10,000 cells, which costs $1,900 (plus shipping, tariffs, etc.)

All of this is originating in China. There's no telling whether anyone can actually get that price at the stated order quantity, and/or whether the cells are any good.

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Meredith Poor
Add caveat.

[Meredith Poor + 894]

Now down to 10 cents per piece or 2.1 cents per watt... in quantities of 100 million (450 Mw).

[John Foote + 1,135]

Photovoltaic panels alone don't represent the cost of production. Still need inverters and install. If you look at the leading edge bids for cost per kilowatt on grid systems, solar is competitive in the right environment.

However the basic point of it becoming cost competitive is true. As a part of the package solar, where you have the right radiation, is competitive with most generation. I think a state of the art combined cycle gas plant still beats it.

The fundamental challenge is the need for alternate sources because of darkness and inclement weather. 

To be straight solar you would need to factor massive storage that isn't there yet. Flow batteries will become a major player, but that adds cost too. But as a 15% provider, not that big a deal.

[markslawson + 1,057]

On 5/22/2020 at 2:35 PM, Meredith Poor said:

Lowest price I've seen for individual solar cells so far. Minimum order requirement is 10,000 cells, which costs $1,900 (plus shipping, tariffs, etc.)

Well, there you go.. we'll close all the fossil fuel plants now... PVs have been cheap for a long time, but as has been pointed out often on this site they aren't of much use by themselves. As they don't produce anything during the evening peak on a grid, or anything much for a large part of the 24 hour cycle, the capacity they represent still has to be duplicated by conventional plants. A part of that capacity often has to be kept spinning, waiting to be hooked up at a moment's notice for when clouds (storms, rain, a gloomy day) cover the sun, so what's the point of the PVs in the first place? In Australia, at least, such projects now must have a battery to keep up output after the PVs stop producing, so the spinning reserve requirement is greatly reduced, but the capacity still has to be duplicated. Even if those things were free, its unlikely they would be worth the trouble to put on a grid..