Everything appears to be that we are entering aa new era of energy production, at least in what are renewable energies. In the past few months, the cost of solar energy has plummeted and it looks like everything will remain the same.
If governments and innovators continue to invest in such energy sources in the way that they have done so far, the cost of solar should never increase further. And it is that, in only 5 months, the prices have fallen by as much as 25 percent.
This is confirmed by checking the investments in construction of solar projects in China ($ 0,46 / W for 500MW of solar energy) and Dubai ($ 0,023 / kWh for 1,2GW of solar).
There are several factors that have led us to these very cheap offers. In China, solar energy relies on subsidies and lower hardware price necessary has been the fuel for that drastic fall. Solar panel costs have fallen remarkably since the first quarter of the year. In Abu Dhabi, solar panels produce more energy than normal because the city has the best solar index on the planet. And that Abu Dhabi is not the location with ideal conditions.
We have already commented very recently how Costa Rica has been able to be based only in renewable energy for 299 days in total. This year they have been able to exceed 150 days in a row. This success is not only due to the size or location of the country, but to real efforts by your government to get rid of dependence on fossil fuels.
Now we can only hope that battery technology keep improving so that at any time it is a real option to have them in homes so that these solar panels can store the surplus of what they get throughout the year. As technology advances and costs are reduced, we can talk about a greener future.