Global Offset Experts: U.S. Dept of Energy intends cutting solar cost by 75%.

Feb. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Patterned on President John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” program in the 1960’s which aimed to land a U.S. astronaut on the moon, the new program announced by Energy Secretary Steven Chu and dubbed “sun shot” aims to cut the cost of installed solar power by 75% to about $1 per watt, or around 6 cents per kilowatt hour, Global Offset Experts was informed.

"That would make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies of any kind,” Chu told Global Offset Experts via a conference call.

Currently the cost of installing photovoltaic solar panels, which transform sunlight directly into electricity pushes the price of solar power to above 22 cents per kilowatt hour. This is somewhat mitigated by federal grants and state incentives which can bring the cost down to around 15 cents for the larger projects.

A number of U.S. solar industry supporters have long argued that the Chinese government’s support of its solar firms has enabled it to take the market share from U.S. producers.

Chinese firms like Suntech Power Holdings Co. have managed to stake a claim to sizeable portions of the European and U.S. market and currently supply around 66% of the global market. Suntech recently told Global Offset Experts that it had sold 250 MW of solar panels in North America in 2010, around 25% of the total market.

Ironically, the cheapest costing solar producer is thin-film manufacturer First Solar Inc., based in Tempe, Arizona.

Over the last five years the cost of solar modules, which are responsible for almost 50%of the total cost of solar systems, has dropped significantly as producers drastically increased output to meet the rise in global demand.

Installations of solar panels is reported to have almost doubled last year over 2009 figures, Global Offset Experts has learned, but the industry still contributes less than 1% of the total U.S. electricity output.

Coal-burning power plants are still the primary electricity generator in the U.S., supplying around 50% of the country’s power needs while nuclear and natural gas plants contribute about 20% and other renewable sources such as hydropower and wind turbines make up the remainder.

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