 |
Mass production of PV cells has driven down its prices, which, along with cost reduction for PV power generation, will great boost market acceptance for the green energy.
Green energy has made major inroads into the power market in recent years. During a recent open bidding for new power capacities totaling 615 million megawatts, Xcel Energy of Colorado received 358 tenders totaling 101 gigawatts in capacity in the form of wind and PV power, amid 430 tenders containing 238 projects in total. By comparison, an open bidding at a similar scale in 2013 received only 55 tenders.
The lowest bid for the open bidding was in the form of wind power exclusively, with the median price standing at only 1.81 cents per kilowatt/hour, followed by wind power coupled with PV power with 1.99 cents of median price, wind power coupled with energy storage price with 2.1 cents of mediam price, equivalent to NT$0.6, exclusive PV power with 2.95 cents of median price, and wind power coupled with PV power and power storage device with median price of 3.06 cents, equivalent to NT$1, the highest but still a far cry from past level.
The open bidding came on the heels of a major PV power plus storage device project in May 2017, put forth by NextEra Energy Resources in Florida and Tucson Electric Power in South Arizona jointly, which received a low tender equivalent to NT$1.3 per kilowatt/hour, featuring an auxiliary energy storage system with 30 million watts in capacity, capable of four-hour power supply. The system employs the fluid cells of ViZn Energy Systems, costing only 4 cents per kilowatt/hour for power storage, and is scheduled for inauguration at the end of 2019.
Quote for fluid cells of ViZn Energy Systems is expected to drop to 2.7 cents per kilowatt/hour of storage capacity in 2023, far below original market expectation. In Nov. 2017, investment bank Lazard, for instance, estimated the LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) for PV power coupled with energy storage device at 8.2 cents, equivalent to NT$2.4.
As the investment tax credit will be slashed to 10%, down from existing 30%, by 2023, it is apparent that most bidders for Xcel project expect cost of PV power coupled with energy storage device will drop by over 20% from now through 2023.
The Xcel project, which will not be settled until April, underscores the trend of price drop for PV power coupled with energy storage device, paving the way for its substitution for fossil oil.
(Collaborative media: TechNews, first photo courtesy of Pixabay)