Experts say one of the main reasons solar is cheaper is because of Spain. (Photo courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
There’s a big push to find alternative sources of energy. Problem is, a lot of alternative energy is just too darn expensive. The cost of solar energy, however, is on the decline. Jennifer Guerra reports:
Transcript
There’s a big push to find alternative sources of energy. Problem is, a lot of alternative energy is just too darn expensive. The cost of solar energy, however, is on the decline. Jennifer Guerra reports:
The price of solar panels took a huge drop this year.
Experts say one of the main reasons solar is cheaper is because of Spain.
The country is a big buyer of solar panels, or what are called PV modules, largely because Spain offers generous incentives for people who buy them.
Galen Barbose is with a federal research lab in Berkley, California. He says, because of the economic crisis, Spain had to slash those incentives.
“And so demand in Spain dropped fairly significantly. And so what we’ve seen over the past year is a glut in the global supply of PV modules. And that has led to a fairly significant drop of the wholesale price of PV modules.”
The cost of solar still isn’t on par with conventional energy, but Barbose says things are headed in that direction.
For The Environment Report, I’m Jennifer Guerra.