Solar and wind power are already economical in almost 60 countries. Serbia is the country with low-cost electricity. And today? The solar panels energy landscape continues to give great hope, and wind energy is added to solar energy, making this duo an incredibly productive combination. Experts predict that by 2020 these two will be the energies to produce cheap solar panels. At what point are they?

Solar energy and wind energy, the queens

At the beginning of 2017 solar energy became the cheapest to produce in some 60 countries. During that year, both solar and onshore wind (inland) competed throughout the year to remain the most economical to produce. The first estimates indicate that 2018 has ended with a very similar panorama: energy wind and solar.

Solar- power pack “backup power”

While wind energy has dropped from $ 0.40 per kilowatt hour to an incredible $ 0.06; solar stabilized during 2018 at 0.08 per kilowatt hour in almost sixty countries, throughout the world regions. In comparison, the range of energy production with fuels varies between 0.18 and 0.05, with an average value of 0.1 dollars per kilowatt-hour globally. This means that the costs of the most used renewable energies have not only reached the average but have exceeded it in more than sixty countries because they are cheaper.

And how have they achieved it?

The main reasons for this decrease are due to the reduction in the price of the solar panel installation. With the economical solar battery storage system cost and facilities, building a wind farm now costs between 39 and 58% less than in 2007, while solar plant projects have decreased by 68% their costs since 2010. Research has proven solar energy to be immensely profitable and, it is the only reason to hold on to backup energy for a good adoption of solar technology.

According to estimates, in 2020 the production of solar and wind energy (and other commercial renewable energy sources) will reach $ 0.03 per kilowatt hour, a record high that beats any other non-renewable energy source. The production cost will go down further in the next decade, due to the improvement of storage technology and the most optimal implementation in networks.

The cost of production is not the same as the cost of light

First, we must understand that electricity, on a large scale, cannot be stored. That is why there is a daily market for energy production known as an electric pool. This varies every day, and every hour, according to needs and production. Companies launch their backup power production offers every day, for the next day, based on estimates. On the other hand, buying cheap solar panels can be of great help.

Remember: the final price of the kilowatt per hour that we all pay is the sum of the marginal price, plus taxes. The final figure is what is known as the electricity tariff. The more we lower the production cost, the cheaper the tariffs for obvious reasons. But, in the end, having more and better solar panels, in the long run, should be synonymous with a cleaner world and cheaper energy.