Idaho Power Announces Record Price for Electricity Generated by a Solar Farm

Idaho Power has recently announced the signing of a $ 21.75 purchase contract per megawatt hour (MWh) of a 120 MW solar plant built by Jackpot Holdings Corporation. The price is below 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), which seems to be a record price for solar energy in the United States.

The price does not perfectly reflect the cost of solar panels: the price of Idaho Power is as low as this one, because Jackpot Holdings benefits from a federal grant in the form of the tax credit to investment in the solar sector, which should start gradually disappear in the coming years. Again, Industry observer and investor Ramez Naam tweeted Last night, without the CTI, he estimated that the project price per kWh would be about 3 cents per kWh, which remains extremely cheap.

Just two years ago, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the average solar energy project in the United States was reaching 6 cents per kWh, which allowed it to be more energy efficient. reach the national goal three years earlier. Last October Nature Energy published an article investigating whether super-cheap solar energy prices of 3 cents per kWh in the Middle East reflected actual cost or simply existed as causes of losses and subsidy mechanisms in the Middle East. oil-rich countries. (Spoiler: The researchers found that prices of 3 cents per kWh were possible and rational in the Middle East.)

In addition to ITC subsidies, Idaho's solar project is likely leveraging the fact that it will use existing transmission lines to provide electricity to utility customers. These transmission lines are currently powered by the North Valmy Coal Plant in Nevada, which will be retiring in 2025 after the announcement made by Idaho Power last month that the US West has been shutting down. is committed to completely eliminating fossil fuels in the coming decades.

The agreement signed by Idaho Power with Jackpot Holdings "provides the opportunity for Idaho Power to buy the facilities, as well as derive the energy from a proposed expansion at a slightly higher price", according to a press release.

"In addition to being clean and affordable, solar energy production increases in the summer, when heat and irrigation increase the energy needs of Idaho Power's customers," added Idaho Power.