How Cheap
can it get ?
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If you ask Tony Seba
, how cheap can Solar power get , he would say :
Interest rate of the capital investment in a
Solar Power plant
His reasoning :
·
There is no fuel cost ( sunlight is free )
·
Very little maintenance cost ( occasional washing of the panels )
·
No transmission costs ( if it is a roof-top plant )
In his book ( Clean Disruption ) , he
writes :
·
Solar panel costs have dropped from $ 100/W in
1970 to $ 0.65 / W in 2013....Every time industry capacity doubles, costs drop
by 22 per cent
·
Should solar PV continue to grow at 43 per cent annual clip, the solar capacity installed
base will be 56.7 TW by 2030
The cost
of fuel ( the Sun ) is zero . The on going costs of operations and maintenance ( O&M ) are close to zero
CONSEQUENTLY, THE COST OF BORROWING THE
CAPITAL ( THE INTEREST
RATE ) CONSTITUTES MOST OF WHAT A SOLAR USER PAYS FOR SOLAR ENERGY
For Lancaster ( a county in USA ) , the cost of Solar
Power ( cents per kwh ) was 7 cents at
interest rate of 10 % ( on capital employed ) . It
dropped to 3.5 cents per kwh ,
when interest rate dropped to 1
% "
SO ,
IT IS CLEAR THAT THE " TRICK " LIES IN BRINGING DOWN THE INTEREST RATE FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS, TO 1 % OR LESS !
So
, how cheap can Solar Power get if the interest rate drops to 0.25 % ?
Could
it possibly drop to 1 CENT ( 68 paise )
per kwh ? Only time will tell
But here is
the good news ( Business Line / 15 March 2017 ) :
“ The World Bank has agreed to provide
loan to develop internal transmission arrangements of the upcoming Rewa Ultra
Mega Solar project in Madhya Pradesh, a state government official said on
Tuesday.
“The World Bank has agreed to provide
loan to develop internal transmission arrangements of the Rewa project. It will
provide 25 per cent of the loan amount under its Clean Technology Fund , where
the money will be provided at an interest rate of only 0.25 per cent,” a state Public Relations Department official
said.
This would be the first solar power
project of the country to receive a loan under CTF, official said.
To understand how Solar Power will
disrupt fossil fuel power ( coal / oil / gas ) and the transport ( petrol /
diesel cars ) , read :
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As far as the Solar Power’s potential for generation
of JOBS is concerned , I request you to look up :
15 March 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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