Saudi Solar Price Drops To All-Time Low

Solar power crushes its own record for cheapest electricity ‘ever, anywhere, by any technology’; The lowest price for solar power last year is the highest price now.

Joe Romm. October 20, 2017 (ThinkProgress)

“Prices for new solar power projects are falling so fast that the cheapest prices from 2016 have become the ceiling price for solar today…[In April 2016, the] record low unsubsidized solar energy price was 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), in a March 2016 contract in Mexico…[In October 2017], every single bid that Saudi Arabia received for its 300 MW Sakaka solar project was cheaper than that…The lowest bid price was 1.79 cents/kWh. For context, the average residential price for electricity in the United States is more than six times that, 12 cents/kWh…The jaw-dropping price of 1.79 cents is not about to become the new ceiling for solar bids — since the market conditions in Saudi Arabia are fairly unique and it’s not clear the bidder, Masdar (owned by the United Arab Emirates) and its French partner EDF would actually make money at that price…But, still, seven of the eight bids were below three cents — and the two lowest bids were [global record lows]…” click here for more

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