The time has come when renewable energies are going to beat coal, nuclear, and natural gas.
Leading analysts say that solar power is becoming the cheapest way to generate electricity.
As per data produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), based on average prices across 58 emerging markets, including China, India, and Brazil, the cost of solar had fallen to about a third of levels in 2010 and is now slightly cheaper than wind energy.
Ethan Zindler, head of U.S. policy analysis at BNEF said, “Solar investment has gone from nothing—literally nothing—like five years ago to quite a lot. A huge part of this story is China, which has been rapidly deploying solar.”
At auctions where private firms bid for getting big electricity contracts, prices are rapidly dropping. For example, in January in India, a contract to supply solar power settled for $64 per megawatt-hour, and by August, it was dropped to $29.10 per megawatt-hour.
BNEF chairman Michael Liebreich says, “Renewables are robustly entering the era of undercutting [fossil fuel prices]. Renewable energy will beat any other technology in most of the world without subsidies.”
Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. You can also find Nidhi on Google+.
