Section 01 · 5 pages
A curve, not a breakthrough
Four decades, every doubling, a fifth off.
Every page in this section
- Four decades, every doubling, a fifth offThe price of a solar module has fallen by roughly a fifth for every doubling of cumulative production, repeated since the 1970s — a learning curve rather than any single invention.
- Al Dhafra and the 1.35-cent contractA single auction result that made the cheapest electricity ever contracted a solar one, and what conditions made that number possible.
- Bhadla: 2,245 MW on 14,000 acresOne of the largest single sites in the world, and what that much land actually looks like when it is covered.
- What a panel is made ofSilicon, silver, glass, aluminium and an encapsulant — and which of those is the constraint.
- Ten million panels to washDust on glass is a measurable loss, so cleaning is an operating cost with its own machinery and its own water problem.