Cost and prices

New analysis released by Lazard compares the levelized cost of energy for various generation technologies on a $/MWh basis and shows that renewables, specifically utility-scale solar and wind, are the economic frontrunners.

The two new options, 0.99% APR for a 20-year loan and 1.99% APR for a 25-year loan, come at a time when installers and homeowners are increasingly cost-conscious, especially considering the impending ITC step-down.

LevelTen Energy’s Q3 2020 PPA Price Index report shows that average utility-scale solar PPA prices rose again in Q3, up to $29.3/MWh. And while the ITC step-down and simple economics are to blame, LevelTen shares that the increases are no cause for alarm.

Stanford professors Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in economics for developing a new auction theory and new auction formats for goods and services. Their findings were already successfully used in the electricity energy sector and may now meet the challenge on how to better shape clean energy procurements.

A report just released by the University of Texas at Austin’s Webber Energy Group has tackled how much solar each state could develop along interstate interchange and exit locations and how much this solar could potentially be worth.

In the newest edition of EnergySage’s Solar Marketplace Intel Report, data about energy storage solutions being quoted to homeowners through the platform has been included for the first time — with more than half of the quotes for Tesla’s Powerwall 2.

The utility is looking to move forward with a new rebate structure worth half the value of net metering, despite regulators’ orders to keep the rate in place until questions about the calculations Ameren is using to justify the new rate can be answered.

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have suggested homeowners are prepared to pay $279 per year to avoid living within a mile of a large-scale solar plant. Other research has contrary findings.

In Vermont and Utah, net metering is under attack — in danger of being significantly devalued or eliminated. In Arizona, the state’s rooftop solar export rates have been saved for at least another year. Outside of policy, Maine has announced the winners of the state’s largest-ever renewable solicitation.

The lower projected costs for PV could help guide some utilities to plan for more PV capacity, as the utilities develop their long-term resource plans.