Making solar power competitive with coal | KurzweilAI This
25-micrometer-thick peel-off film of silicon, used to make solar
cells, has a metal backing that keeps it from breaking (credit:
Astrowatt) By the end of the decade, U.S. manufacturers could
make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the
ones they make now. At 52 cents per watt, that would be cheap
enough for solar power to compete with electricity from fossil
fuels, according to a new study by MIT researchers in Energy &
Environmental Science. Assuming similar cost reductions for
installation and equipment, solar power would cost six cents per
kilowatt-hour in sunny areas of the U.S. — less than the 15
cents per kilowatt-hour average cost of electricity in the U.S.
today. Improvements would include an alternative to the wasteful
process now used to make silicon wafers, methods of handling
thin wafers to avoid breaking, installation cost-reduction, and
improved light absorption, such as using nanostructured layers.