News review
As solar costs continue to fall, industry demands level playing ?eld
By Stuart Qualtrough
T
he strike price agreed by
the Government for
nuclear power of £92.50/
MWh for 35 years is now set to
be beaten comfortably by the
price for solar power – and that
is before the additional costs of
nuclear waste management are
even considered.
The UK anticipates nuclear
going live in the 2020s – assuming
it doesn’t suffer the same delays
and cost increases as other
reactors across Europe – by which
time solar power will be cheaper.
Whereas nuclear is set to receive
£92.50 for 35 years, which “could be
subject to adjustments downwards
or upwards in relation to operational
and certain other costs”, the Solar
Trade Association (STA) anticipates
solar is set to require around
£86/MWh for 15 years in the year
2019/20 (based on 2012 prices).
If, like nuclear, solar’s support was
spread over 35 years instead of 15,
STA crunch the numbers on energy
the strike price would be even lower.
STA CEO Paul Barwell said:
“Renewables must be treated on a
level playing ?eld. Solar power has
already achieved unprecedented
cost reductions over the last three
years and is projected to continue
to reduce costs in real terms over
the next decade.
The STA anticipates further
signi?cant cost reductions in solar
power when the UK again has
access to world pricing from 2016.
The STA’s best estimates of solar
panels world pricing will be around
€0.30/W by 2018/19.
Forecasting future prices is
notoriously dif?cult, but the solar
market is now expanding rapidly
across Asia and Africa, driving
further cost reductions. Demand is
set to more than double by the
end of this decade.
Unlike nuclear power, a highly
centralised technology that is
often state owned, solar power is
characterised by hundreds of
companies in ?erce competition
enabling everyday people and
businesses to take direct control of
their power supply.
Paul Barwell said: “There are
nearly 500,000 solar electricity
generators in the UK and this
is set to double by 2015. These
homeowners are taking back control
of their supply and their costs and
relying less on the Big Six.”
Sustainable Resources
EU delays on CO2 emissions should
not deter auto industry, says expert
By GreenWeek staff
The proposal by the EU to delay
introducing new limits on CO2
emissions for passenger cars
from 2020 to 2024 should not
deter the automotive industry
from striving to meet the
existing targets set on all new
?eet model cars, according to
Barry James, chief technology
of?cer from Romax Technology.
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