Has Solar Hit its Tipping Point?

By Robert Garrett
on May 14, 2012 3:02 pm

2011 was a challenging year for the solar industry, but brighter days are indeed on the horizon according to a recent McKinsey Report. We’ve previously talked about the application of Moore’s Law to solar and the role that technology has played in increasing solar affordability, but this article claims that the biggest driver in the coming decade will be incremental cost reductions as deployments scale. Solar can already be viable on an unsubsidized basis in certain markets and  David Crane, CEO of NRG, recently suggested in a Triplepundit.com article that solar could reach grid parity, or the point where clean energy equals the cost of conventional energy, in 20 U.S. states in as little as five years. NRG Solar CEO Tom Doyle also had some interesting comments that dovetail with the McKinsey Report during the Greentech Media Solar Summit earlier this week: “Every new home built will demand solar [and solar] will be as commonplace as a sink in a kitchen.”