Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, speaks to pv magazine about the current steep trajectory of solar module prices. He estimates that PV panels prices will end up dropping by 40% this year and predicts the closure of old technology and sub-scale solar manufacturing facilities, both in China and globally.
Solar module prices may approach the threshold of $0.10/W by the end of 2024 or eventually in 2025, according to Tim Buckley, director of Australia-based think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF).
There, Buckley and his colleagues said they estimated solar electricity costs to drop 10% annually for the rest of this decade, halving by 2030. The report also provides detailed information on the operating and planned capacity of the global PV supply chain. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused.
Electricity generation costs from new utility-scale onshore wind and solar PV plants are expected to decline by 2024, but not rapidly enough to fall below pre Covid-19 values in most markets outside China. Although commodity and freight prices have dropped from last year’s peaks, they remain elevated.
The study focuses on solar and battery storage, but the researchers note that wind power, heat pumps, and other clean technologies are also seeing a sharp drop in prices, too. Technological advances are making solar and battery storage smarter and more efficient.
Solar module prices have never fallen so sharply in such a short period of time. One reason for this is the “PV module glut” in warehouses in Europe, according to pvXchange’s Martin Schachinger. We have all been asking ourselves for some time now: How far can photovoltaic module prices go down before the bottom is finally reached?