Solar Prices Could Be 10% Less Than Coal In India By 2020
Solar Prices Could Be 10% Less Than Coal In India By 2020
November 17th, 2015 by Jake Richardson
KPMG has released a report stating that by 2020 solar power in India could cost about 10% less than coal power, saying Solar power price declines have beaten the expectations of most analysts since the beginning of 2015. In the ongoing NTPC solar park tender, solar prices have breached the INR 5/kwh and this is a landmark for the energy sector. Today, in India, solar prices are within 15% of power prices on a levelized basis. Our forecast is that by 2020, solar power prices could be up to 10% lower than coal power prices. You can read the full report, titled The Rising Sun Disruption on the Horizon here.
2020 is not that far away, and if it does come to pass that solar power is cheaper than electricity generated by coal in just a handful of years in such a huge country that consumes tremendous quantities of the stuff, it certainly would be quite a milestone.
We need to re-engineer our process to create energy efficiency and conservation to give India an affordable energy access. A holistic vision is the need of the hour in order to reach 200 million people at a faster rate. I am personally convinced that any amount of investment in this sector will have a quick pay back, explained energy minister Piyush Goyal.
Weve already seen that solar power in Chile can be cheaper than electricity produced by coal. Who is paying attention to these developments though? Critics and cynics could say that Chile is a nation of only 17 million with exceptional solar power potential, and therefore is not indicative of a larger solar power trend.
However, Indias population is 1.25 billion...
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/17/solar-prices-10-less-coal-india-2020/
KPMG study:
https://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/ENRich2015.pdf