Solar: Soon to be Bigger and Cheaper Than Oil

I am sharing this interesting piece on current trends and the outlook for solar energy, which was culled from the Thursday, May 26th 2011 edition of Wealth Wire, where it was posted by the writer, Brittany Stepniak. Please read on:

" General Electric's (GE) global research director Mark M. Little believes solar power will be one of the cheapest forms of electricity within three to five years. Cheaper to use than electricity generated from the currently popular fossil fuels and nuclear reactors.  

Little said he is optimistic that solar prices could, realistically, be at or lower than 15 cents a kilowatt-hour. If that's the case, it is probable that consumers will grow more attracted to using solar electricity.  

Back in April, Conneticut based GE announced that it had improved the efficiencey of the thin-film solar panels -meaning more sunlight was converted to electricity- up to a record-breaking 12.8 percent. Essentially, this efficiency boost will cut production costs without relying on subsidies alone.  

GE has ambitious, yet attainable plans for the future of solar energy.  By 2013, GE intends to have a solar-panel manufacturing plant open and operating. The new development intends to hire about 400 employees; enough workers to generate enough panels to power 80,000 homes annually.  

As the industry is inevitably expanding, solar-panel makers are expanding factories to increase cost savings and keep the industry sustainable.  

"Installations may increase by as much as 50 percent in 2011, worth about $140 billion, as cheaper panels and thin film make developers less dependent on government subsidies," Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast.

Prices for solar cells, the key ingredient for panel-production, has already fallen 21 percent this year. Researchers say that solar power cost is practically on par with costs of conventional power sources now.  

At the moment, solar-panel sales rake in approximately $28 billion.

Still, it will take quite a long time for the United States to fully tranisition to a complete smart grid. That grid would include "millions of next- generation meters installed in businesses and homes, appliances that adjust their energy use when prices change, and advanced software to help utilities control electricity flows," said Mark Little.  

It is coming along. Slowly, but surely.  
Meanwhile, Little says the emerging solar energy market is one that Congress needs to consider more ardently. He asserts a greater need for certainty in within the tax policy regarding renewable energy." 

Culled from Wealth Wire, May 26th, 2011.