Speaker: Professor Martin Green, University of New South Wales
Over the last decade, the cost of photovoltaic solar energy conversion has dropped very dramatically with solar photovoltaics “now the cheapest source of electricity in most countries” and “offering some of the lowest cost electricity ever seen”, according to the International Energy Agency.
However, improvements are in the pipeline that are leading to an era of “insanely cheap” solar power, within the coming decade.
Several recent studies have detailed how the technology can provide a path to an essentially zero carbon energy future by 2050 without the undesirable cost trade-offs once thought necessary. The developments leading to these cost reductions will be described as well as the pending improvements that will allow solar to continue on its trajectory to even lower future costs.