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mikeash
on June 12, 2018
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Solar Surpasses Gas and Wind as Biggest Source of ...
Is it really cheaper? There are some economies of scale, but how much? Rooftop solar has zero land cost and low transmission costs.
thinkcontext
on June 12, 2018
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Yes, over twice as cheap. According to NREL, residential is $2.80/watt vs $1.03/watt for utility scale.
https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2017/nrel-report-utility-sca...
mikeash
on June 12, 2018
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parent
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That doesn’t seem to account for the two factors I mentioned, although I certainly wouldn’t expect them to make up that difference.
18pfsmt
on June 12, 2018
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I haven't read the NREL report, but my father was involved with them for 10 years as an investor. For utility scale, they can use thin-film panels which are more efficient, but more costly upfront (FirstSolar is the big player).
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