Forbes Reports That Utility-Scale Solar Power Is Expected To Be Cost Competitive With Natural Gas By 2025

UPDATE: Environmental News Network, Renewables Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels in Australia (Jan. 8, 2014)

Citing to a recent report by Lux Research, Inc., on December 2, 2013, Forbes reported that “[u]tility-scale solar power is poised to become cost competitive with natural gas by 2025.” The Lux Research report entitled “Cheap Natural Gas: Fracturing Dreams of a Solar Future” evaluated the “levelized cost of energy” (LCOE) for unsubsidized solar, natural gas, and hybrid solar/gas technologies under a range of future natural gas prices across 10 different parts of the world. Forbes’ “takeaway” from the Lux Research report is “the LCOE for unsubsidized utility-scale solar globally will be only about $0.02/kWh above the price of power produced by combined cycle gas turbines by 2025.”

It further highlighted that “solar power continues to see strong growth:” “in October, solar projects led new electrical generation capacity installed in the United States … An impressive 504 megawatts of solar power capacity came online in October, out of 699 megawatts total new capacity for the month,” citing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects Energy Infrastructure Update For October 2013.

Additional Resources: Lux Research, Inc.; Forbes; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Go Solar California