Solar Energy Sees Eye-Popping Price Drops
Solar electricity's price tag has plummeted 70 percent, says a new report, as SolarCity rolls out a low-cost, super-efficient panel.
If only the same could be said of electric bills. The price of U.S. solar power has dropped a whopping 70 percent since 2009, even as panels get smarter.
The figure, cited in a report this week from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, coincides with SolarCity’s debut Friday of what it calls the world's most efficient rooftop solar panel. The largest residential solar installer in the U.S. says its module can produce 38 percent more power than a standard one, yet costs less to produce.
Not bad for an industry that had no large-scale U.S. presence just a decade ago. Photovoltaic panels currently contribute only about 1 percent of all electricity, but
