Subsidy-free Big Solar, coming sooner than you think

Subsidy-free Big Solar, coming sooner than you think by Giles Parkinson

The developer of Australia’s first utility-scale solar PV plant says such projects should be able to be constructed in Western Australia within two to three years, without the need for additional subsidies.

Jack Curtis, the head of business development in Asia for US-based First Solar, the world’s largest solar PV manufacturer, says the price of solar PV modules are falling rapidly, and by 2014/15 should be in the “mid teens” in cents/kilowatt hour, allowing it to compete with wind and gas in the WA market.

“That is when we will see the first utility-scale plant in WA built without the need for an extra subsidy,” Curtis told RenewEconomy in an interview. “Two years ago that was a target, now I would say that was a certainty.”