{"id":69,"date":"2015-11-23T10:53:33","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T15:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/?p=69"},"modified":"2018-01-14T20:00:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T01:00:50","slug":"utility-scale-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/utility-scale-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Utility-Scale Solar Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I finally got around to read the US Department of Energy report on utility-scale solar energy (<a href=\"https:\/\/emp.lbl.gov\/sites\/all\/files\/lbnl-1000917.pdf\">https:\/\/emp.lbl.gov\/sites\/all\/files\/lbnl-1000917.pdf<\/a>) published a couple of months ago. Here are my highlights:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Installation trend is compelling. Installed capacity is now 30,000 MW &#8211; about 30 times more than 5 years ago.<\/li>\n<li>Installation costs are falling &#8211; by more than 50% since the 2007-2009 period, the lowest-priced projects being around $2\/W (AC).<\/li>\n<li>Capacity factor is now improved to 27.5%. The main\u00a0factors of this variation are, in order of importance: the strength of the solar resource at the project site; whether the array is mounted at a fixed tilt or on a tracking mechanism; the inverter loading ratio; and the type of PV modules used.<\/li>\n<li>Power purchase agreement prices have fallen. Utility scale solar PPA is now as low as $40\/MWh. At these low levels \u2013 which appear to be robust, given the strong response to recent utility solicitations \u2013 PV compares favorably to just the fuel costs (i.e., ignoring fixed capital costs) of natural gas-fired generation, and can therefore potentially serve as a \u201cfuel saver\u201d alongside existing gas-fired generation (and can also provide a hedge against possible future increases in fuel prices).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"margin-top:2em;\">\r\n      Shortlink:\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/utility-scale-solar\/\">https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/utility-scale-solar\/<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"eebsocial\" style=\"margin-top:1em;\">\r\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/twitter-32.png\" title=\"Tweet this link\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/facebook-32.png\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https%3A%2F%2F&title=Utility-Scale Solar Report\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/linkedin-32.png\" title=\"Share on LinkedIn\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/api.whatsapp.com\/send?text=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/whatsapp-32.png\" title=\"Share on WhatsApp\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2F&media=&description=Utility-Scale Solar Report\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/pinterest-32.png\" title=\"Share on Pinterest\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2F&title=Utility-Scale Solar Report\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/reddit-32.png\" title=\"Share on Reddit\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/share\/url?url=https%3A%2F%2F&text=Utility-Scale Solar Report\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/telegram-32.png\" title=\"Share on Telegram\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/tiktok-32.png\" title=\"Share on TikTok\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/instagram-32.png\" title=\"Share on Instagram\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\n    \r\n   \r\n  <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I finally got around to read the US Department of Energy report on utility-scale solar energy (https:\/\/emp.lbl.gov\/sites\/all\/files\/lbnl-1000917.pdf) published a couple of months ago. Here are my highlights: Installation trend is compelling. Installed capacity is now 30,000 MW &#8211; about 30 times more than 5 years ago. Installation costs are falling &#8211; by more than 50% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}