German Solar Power Costs May Sink Below Gas, Coal in 5 Years
Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Electricity from solar panels in Germany may be as cheap as power from new gas and coal plants within five to eight years, a study by A.T. Kearney Inc. showed.
Production costs for solar power could be as low as 12.6 euro cents ($0.18) per kilowatt-hour by 2020 compared, with about 15.6 cents for fossil-fuel electricity generation, according to the study, which was commissioned by Phoenix Solar AG, a solar array developer.
That would represent almost half the current price for solar-generated electricity of 23.9 cents per kilowatt hour. The reduction depends on continued growth in demand for panels, Andreas Haenel, chief executive officer of Phoenix Solar, said today at a briefing in Berlin.
Solar power costs are being unfairly compared with older coal and nuclear power plants, making the costs for photovoltaic and thin-film panels look more expensive than they are, the study said. Newly-installed modules should be compared with new natural gas or coal-fired plants, which would give a more "realistic" assessment of the real economic costs of solar energy, Haenel said at the briefing.
"This year was the first time that the economic benefits of installed solar panels are greater than the costs," he said, citing the study, which considered the benefits of tax revenues and lower carbon dioxide emissions.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
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