| Australian Professor
Predicts PV Cost Competition by 2030
Professor Andrew Blakers from The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems
at the Australian National University recently reported to the
Greenhouse 2000 Conference in Melbourne that photovoltaic (PV) solar
energy conversion can be cost-competitive with any low-emission
electricity generation technology by 2030. Blakers' paper describes how extrapolation of the huge economic and technical gains made by photovoltaics over the last 15 years gives confidence that a dramatic shift in electricity generation technology over the next quarter-century is possible. Worldwide photovoltaic sales are growing at 40 percent to 50 percent per year, he pointed out. Government research and market support for photovoltaics of around $400 billion spread over the next 25 years can deliver the technology required to eliminate electricity production as a contributor to climate change. This is a large sum of money--similar to the cost of the Iraq war--but it is dwarfed by the $23 trillion expected investment in oil exploration out to 2030 or the $24 trillion investment in PV systems required to generate half of the world’s electricity by 2040, he added. Blakers also described Sliver solar cell technology, which was invented at Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland, by Dr. Klaus Weber and Blakers in 2000. Work at Australian National University shows that Sliver solar cell technology can achieve electricity costs below retail electricity costs within five years, with the right investment.
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