Solar Positioned as a Cornerstone of Power
Solar energy has the potential to abate 5.5 to 10 gigatonnes of CO2e by 2050, positioning it as a cornerstone of power and heat sector decarbonization. Depending on the transition scenario, widespread deployment of solar technologies could supply 24-43% of global electricity demand.
However, scaling solar faces challenges such as complex project development processes, including site selection, securing financing, and grid integration. Policy frameworks and market dynamics also play crucial roles in facilitating or hindering solar expansion. Innovations in technology and business models as well as local and community engagement are essential to overcome these barriers and accelerate deployment.
Download Scaling Solar below to explore the deployment strategies, policy frameworks, and emerging technologies in solar PV.
Four Key Points
Solar energy is cheap and getting even cheaper. Solar PV prices have dropped a whopping 99.6 percent since 1975, down to as little as 11 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2023 for residential uses, as little as 2.5 cents or lower for utility-scale installations.
Counterintuitively, the low price of solar may present hurdles to its growth. While solar’s CapEx and OpEx combined is cheaper than any other source of electricity, its ratio of CapEx to OpEx is more skewed toward the former. That puts pressure on solar developers to find ways to secure the initial financing, and low solar energy prices tighten that ratio into a vice grip.
Solar is an intermittent energy source, raising the need for energy storage using batteries or other technologies — or relying on the grid for backup using fossil fuels or other power sources.
Solar development often requires more local and community engagement than fossil fuel use. Unfortunately, the process can be so locally idiosyncratic that delays caused by difficulties connecting to the grid are now one of the biggest obstacles preventing new solar PV capacity additions in both the United States and the European Union.
How States Like Texas Are Driving the Clean Energy Boom
Despite federal rollbacks, both red and blue states are using federal and state incentives to drive investment and upgrade energy infrastructure.
LONGi: Facing Strategic Challenges in the Solar PV Sector
LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. Ltd. has long been one of the world’s most valuable renewable energy companies. Their success in lowering the cost of solar module manufacturing led to increased customer demand and their position as the world’s leading PV module manufacturers.
How Should Solar-panel Makers Respond to Falling Prices?
Solar panels have become so cheap so quickly, that they have gone from curiosity to commodity in less than four decades.
ELP Greenport: Scaling Community Solar
What is the future of community solar development projects and what challenges need to be addressed for scalability?
In this case study, MBA students meet Wendy De Wolf, CBS ’18, founder of East Light Partners Greenport Solar, a 5-MW community solar project in Hudson, New York.
Scaling Solar: Four Key Points
As the world rushes toward a net-zero future, the experiences of Wendy De Wolf '18, co-founder of East Light Partners, underscore the opportunities and obstacles in the race to make solar power a dominant force in global energy production.
Illuminate: Onshoring the US Solar Supply Chain?
Can Illuminate USA use federal tax credits and incentives to manufacture solar panel modules to be competitive in a global market dominated by China?
Illuminate USA, a joint venture between Invenergy and LONGi, is positioned to be one of the largest solar panel manufacturing facilities in the United States.