In solar energy, massive investment has paid off

In our 2024 industrial investment barometer published last December, some data on solar power were not included due to lack of space (and because"the secret of boring is to say everything", as Voltaire and my first mentor, Christian Durand, said some time ago...).

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These statistics, based on 1,090 solar power plant projects (other projects are in our database, but production capacity or CAPEX were not known), nevertheless show ⤵️

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1. Dramatic cost reductions due to scale and learning effects :

The graph on the right shows that the CAPEX required to produce one kW has been halved in seven years, while the graph on the left suggests, at least on first analysis, that the intensity of investment over several years has paid off.

2. Good data quality :

A comparison with the total installed cost published by the InternationalRenewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows that our data are very close, which speaks in favor of the quality of our data collection process.

3. A possible cost and investment plateau:

Finally, we see a double plateau in 2024, both in terms of investment - in terms of amount and number - and in the cost of kW. Have physical limits been reached, or has investment shifted to other energies or even other sectors?

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Many other themes can be analyzed using data from the global Trendeo database, collected with the support of McKinsey & Company and theINSTITUT DE LA REINDUSTRIALISATION.

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💡Your opinion

Is this just a pause in the sector's progress, or has a sustainable limit been reached?
Doesn't this show the possible harmful effect of a rather French viewpoint, which is to be wary of overly massive investment?

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