Nevada's 2.3-Cent Bid Beats Arizona's Record-Low Solar PPA Price

[jpak]

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nevada-beat-arizona-record-low-solar-ppa-price#gs.NskT8CI

Records don't last long in the cleantech business.

Just days ago, we were reporting that the Central Arizona Project (CAP) had secured the lowest confirmed solar price in the U.S., when it approved a 20-year power-purchase agreement at $24.99 per megawatt-hour. That's setting aside an Austin Energy PPA from December that could be lower, but has more ambiguous terms.

That Arizona record is already under threat from projects that utility NV Energy selected as part of its integrated resource planning. The portfolio of 1,001 megawatts of solar capacity and 100 megawatts/400 megawatt-hours of energy storage still needs approval from Nevada’s utility regulators.

If that happens, the lowest confirmed U.S. solar price would be Sempra Renewables’ Copper Mountain Solar 5 project at $21.55 per megawatt-hour. That 250-megawatt project, though, has a 2.5 percent annual escalation as part of its 25-year contract, so the low upfront price wouldn’t last.

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[msongs]

1. solar on every roof first before corporate solar. nt

[VMA131Marine]

2. Those prices are significantly below the cost of generation from combined cycle natural gas plants

The LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) for combined-cycle natural gas plants averages around $52/MWh for the country as a whole. This solar price (and it's not clear it's and LCOE so we might be comparing apples and oranges) is 40% of that. Even with the Trump tariff on Chinese solar panels, Solar PV should be cost competitive with other sources of energy.

[kimbutgar]

3. It saddens me to think where we would be solar energy wise if Reagan hadn't been elected

And our country embraced Presidents Carters dream of us getting off oil and gas. Heck our cars might have been solar powered. Houses in hot climates might be cooled by solar powered air conditioners. And now we are going back again in alternate energy because the pig in the White House is beholden to oil and gas interests. GRRRRRRR.

I remember being in college and we were excited by ecology and having a sustainable energy system.