Just last week, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in St. Louis was $3.20. By Monday, the average price for regular gasoline on the Missouri side of the St. Louis region reached $3.59 a gallon, according to AAAâs Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Thatâs up 28 cents from this time last year.
But, by 2016, Deutsche expects solar energy to reach price parity in all 50 states. For example, the cost of solar-generated electricity in the top 10 states for capacity ranges from 11-15 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh), compared to the retail electricity price of 11-37 c/kWh.
Using the new numbers, he finds that solarâs net cost is lower: $158,800 per MW per year, compared with coal. That is an improvement of $30,000 per MW per year, though it is still a net cost. In the original study, wind energy cost $25,300 per MW per year more than coal.With the new figures, the net costs become net benefits: $31,200 per MW per year cheaper than coal.Even so, wind and solar are still less beneficial than the alternatives which Dr Franks considers.hese show that the weighted average capital cost of 113 utility-scale solar projects completed in 2012 was $3,900 per kilowatt (KW). Dr Frank used figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), also part of the Department of Energy.