Graph of the Day: Solar parity with wholesale market  

RNE has a post on a report on countries that have reached (or are close to reaching) price parity for solar power with other forms of wholesale power generation - Graph of the Day: Solar parity with wholesale market.

Retail parity – knows as socket parity – for rooftop solar is a reality in many countries, including Australia. What has been a bigger challenge for the solar industry is to attain wholesale parity – where the cost of solar farms can compete with the prevailing wholesale price of electricity.

A new European study has found that large scale solar PV with single axis tracking is already at grid parity with wholesale prices in one country, and soon will be with others.

The study by research firm Eclareon find that Chile – with high electricity prices and excellent solar resources – is already at grid parity, which explains why it is one of the hottest markets for large scale solar at the moment.

The study notes that Morocco, Italy and Mexico are also, or have been close recently to grid parity. In Italy, though, the recent slump in wholesale prices has temporarily taken wholesale parity away from solar, while Mexico is also implementing a large restructure of its market.