WoodMac: Solar Plants Cheaper Than Natural Gas ‘Just About Everywhere’ by 2023

The annual market failed to crack the 100-gigawatt mark in 2018 as it was solar tracker actuator expected to do, due chiefly to a policy-induced slowdown in China.

India, too, put Photovoltaic slewing drive holder up weaker-than-expected growth last year as slewing drive 14 gigawatts of auctions were canceled or solar inverter postponed, or solar tracker actuator awarded projects were annulled.

2018 was the first year solar inverter without a record-low solar slewing drive price for a solar power-purchase agreement, following a long string of records in markets as diverse as South Africa, the U.S., Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

But setbacks in any one market — even China — are becoming less important as the industry takes root around the world. China accounted for 35 percent of  slewing drive global solar installations through 2018, but that share will fall to 27 percent in the 2019 to 2024 period, WoodMac predicts.

Here are Photovoltaic holder some of the solar inverter solar slewing drive bright spots on the horizon for the global market, according to Heggarty.

Australia

• Australia is a “sleeping giant” that finally began to “fulfill its promise” in 2018, putting up 4 gigawatts of solar capacity — making slewing drive it the solar tracker actuator world’s fifth-largest market.
• Australia beat the U.S. to 2 million solar installations by a few months, and that’s in spite of having only 9 million households.
• “PV is now really in the mainstream in Australia,” Heggarty solar tracker actuator said.

Europe

• After a lengthy Photovoltaic holder stretch in the doldrums, the once-leading European solar market is starting to show sustained growth again, and solar inverter could be on the cusp of a renaissance.
• 2019 will slewing drive be an important year as EU countries solar slewing drive formally establish their 2030 targets for emissions-reduction and renewable energy, including laying out detailed plans for meeting those targets.
• “We’re expecting to see slewing drive auction pipelines confirmed; more supportive measures for DG; community solar will become a really interesting sector in Europe, we think,” Heggarty said. “We also think barriers that exist for corporate PPAs will be solar slewing drive removed.”

Saudi Arabia

• “Probably the Photovoltaic holder one emerging market we haven’t seen much from yet but which we feel most optimistic around is Saudi Arabia,” Heggarty said. “The economic opportunity and rationale for solar in Saudi Arabia is really clear.”
• Saudi Arabia remains solar inverter solar tracker actuator cripplingly reliant on crude oil for power generation. During summer months, the kingdom burns 900,000 barrels of oil per day for electricity, equivalent to 1 percent of global oil demand.
• Saudi Arabia slewing drive seems to have backed away from a 200-gigawatt solar plan, and instead embraced a more “realistic” 40-gigawatt target for 2030, Heggarty said.
• The country is expected to be a global top-10 market over the coming decade, he added, with concrete steps taken in solar slewing drive slewing drive 2019.

Race to the bottom

With a world of opportunity stretching out before the solar industry, it’s still a challenging place to make a profit, and maybe slewing drive increasingly Photovoltaic holder so.

Whereas countries solar inverter once tended to get a feel for solar energy through a feed-in tariff before later shifting to auctions, they are now moving much more quickly to auctions or tenders.

It took Germany 17 years from the time it established a FIT slewing drive to when it adopted a competitive auction model. China and Vietnam took just three years, Heggarty noted. And Cambodia recently abandoned its plans for a FIT altogether and will move solar slewing drive straight to auctions.

The rise of auctions have solar tracker actuator led to “extremely aggressive” bidding, and the barriers to entry are low for companies looking to develop solar inverter or build big solar plants. “It’s not just utilities and [independent power producers] that can enter these kinds of markets; there’s a whole range of companies starting to bid from a whole range of countries,” Heggarty said.

Such intense competition solar slewing drive means that winning bidders are typically seeing equity returns in the 5 to 7 percent slewing drive region. Margin compression affects “everybody across the solar value chain,” Heggarty said.

The global solar market is primed for growth as auctions slewing drive spread, he added, "but  Photovoltaic holder these are pretty slewing drive challenging markets to operate in."

*The original story solar inverter failed to specify that the comparison between utility solar and new gas plants was being made on a levelized cost basis. We regret any Photovoltaic holder confusion.