Solar Costs In The U.S Drops A Whopping 75 Percent In 6 Years

Why is that?

Is it good to buy solar now?

The Department of Energy attributed achieving the goal to the rapidly declining costs of solar energy. The Energy Department announced that the average price of utility-scale solar dropped to 6 cents per kilowatt hour, which Obama had set in 2011 as the goal for his “SunShot” program. That program, which provided research funding and other support aimed to reduce the total cost of photovoltaic energy by 75 percent by 2020. Largely due to rapid cost declines in solar photovoltaic (PV) hardware, the average price of utility-scale solar is now 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The Department of Energy is well aware that the costs are going down, and they state that they will continue research to drive down costs, such as new funding programs that includes early stage research to address solar energy’s critical challenges of grid reliability, resilience, and storage.

The Department of Energy announced that 28 million in new funding for solar research, particularly for research into “concentrating solar”-which uses mirrors to direct sunlight to generate thermal energy-and into improved grid technology. Their new goals to keep reducing the cost of solar much more further than it is now, as low as 3 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2030.

The new funding on solar energy seems to go against the White House. The White House had proposed cutting funds for Energy Department research by 71 percent, to $ 70 million, in its 2018 budget request according to the Bloomberg News. To check out how much you will save with solar energy please click here.