The poster child for a green economy is solar power, which is expected to drive jobs growth, especially in installation.
But costs still outweigh benefits and industry experts say grid parity is a tipping point that is several years away. Grid parity refers to when solar costs come in line with the cost of electricity from the power grid.
Investors have made big bets on solar energy. There are about 45 publicly traded companies in the sector whose market capitalization is about US$50 billion.
A number of catalysts could spark a sudden conversion to solar panels, as was seen with the rapid adoption of cell phones in the late 1990s, said Shawn Kravetz, president of Esplanade Capital LLC in Boston, who has a fund dedicated to solar energy.
A tipping point could come earlier than many think, perhaps by 2011, especially if carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade program aimed at limiting carbon emissions comes about, Kravetz said. A fall in panel prices, cheap financing and the first solar panel to go up in a neighborhood are enough to spark sales, he said.
“People are more aware that solar isn’t a newfangled technology, it’s by-and-large a 30-year-old technology that works,” he said. “We just need to get the cost to where it’s cost effective, and where, thanks to some government support, we’re finally there.”
RSS