Solar Is Now Among the Cheapest Energy on Earth. Arizona Is Ready for It.
Solar power has gone from an expensive experiment to one of the world's least expensive sources of new electricity. In Arizona, that transformation has another exciting implication: our abundant sunshine can increasingly power not just our homes — but our transportation.
A recent Scientific American article examines how decades of technological improvements, manufacturing innovation and enormous increases in production have dramatically changed the economics of solar power.
The story is global. But for Arizona, it is particularly relevant.
We live in one of America's sunniest states. At the same time, more Arizonans are discovering electric vehicles, home charging, battery storage and new ways to manage when and how they use electricity.
Put those trends together, and solar's transformation becomes much more than an electricity story.
It becomes a transportation story, too.
Inspired by reporting from Scientific Americannew utility-scale solar
Scientific American, citing Lazard's levelized-cost analysis, reports that new utility-scale solar has reached approximately $38–$78 per megawatt-hour, compared with roughly $48–$109 per megawatt-hour for new natural-gas generation.
That's an extraordinary change for a technology that was once viewed as a costly alternative to conventional power.
Solar didn't become inexpensive because of one breakthrough.
Instead, decades of improvements began reinforcing one another. Better technology made panels more productive. Larger factories lowered manufacturing costs. Increasing demand created greater scale. Greater scale encouraged still more investment and innovation.
Higher Efficiency
Modern solar cells turn more sunlight into electricity, allowing the same amount of power to be produced with less equipment and space.
Better Manufacturing
Cleaner materials, precise production and improved cell designs have increased performance while reducing production costs.
Massive Scale
Solar grew from a niche technology into a global industry capable of producing enormous quantities of photovoltaic equipment.
Learning by Doing
Every generation of manufacturing and deployment helped the industry learn how to produce, install and operate solar more efficiently.
Arizona sits at an extraordinary intersection.
Falling solar costs matter everywhere, but Arizona has something most places would love to have in greater abundance: sunshine.
Solar gives Arizona homes, businesses and utilities an opportunity to convert that resource directly into electricity. And as electric vehicles become more common, electricity can replace another energy purchase many households make every week: gasoline.
That creates a fundamentally different way of thinking about transportation energy.
Instead of relying entirely on fuel extracted somewhere else, refined somewhere else and transported to a gasoline station, an EV can use electricity delivered through Arizona's grid — or potentially electricity generated just a few feet away on the roof of your own home.
Solar + Storage + EVs
These technologies are often discussed separately. Increasingly, they're becoming parts of the same energy ecosystem.
Generate
Solar panels convert abundant Arizona sunshine into electricity.
Store & Manage
Batteries and smart energy systems give households and the grid more flexibility over when electricity is used.
Drive
Electric vehicles allow electricity to replace gasoline as a transportation fuel.
Solar makes particular sense when we start thinking beyond the house.
A rooftop solar system doesn't know whether the electricity it produces is powering an air conditioner, refrigerator, television or electric vehicle.
It's simply producing electricity.
An EV gives households another productive use for that energy: mobility.
For a household that already has rooftop solar, an electric vehicle can increase the amount of locally generated electricity used by the household — particularly when charging can be scheduled around solar production and the household's utility rate plan.
For a household considering solar today, future EV charging can be included when evaluating the size and design of the system.
That's why DRIVE Electric Arizona describes solar and EVs as a natural partnership: your home can produce electricity, and your vehicle can turn that electricity into miles.
When we charge may become nearly as important as what we drive.
Solar has one obvious limitation: production changes throughout the day. Arizona's electricity demand, meanwhile, can remain high well after solar production begins declining in the late afternoon.
Electric vehicles have an advantage that many electrical loads don't: charging can often be scheduled.
Most vehicles spend many hours parked. That flexibility can allow drivers to choose charging times that better fit their household energy use, available solar production and utility rate plan.
Arizona sunshine can power more than our homes.
It can help power the miles we drive.
Solar's story should sound familiar to anyone watching the EV market.
Solar didn't suddenly become competitive overnight. It followed a familiar technology curve: early products were expensive, production volumes were limited and the supporting ecosystem was still developing.
Then scale increased. Technology improved. Competition expanded. Manufacturing became more efficient. Costs declined. Adoption accelerated.
Electric vehicles are moving through many of those same stages today. Battery technology continues to improve, vehicle choices continue to expand and charging infrastructure continues to grow.
That doesn't mean every household should install solar or that every charging situation is identical. Utility rates, driving patterns, financing, equipment costs and household energy use all matter.
But the broader direction is increasingly clear: the technologies used to generate electricity and the technologies used to power transportation are beginning to converge.
You've got the sun. Now learn how to drive on it.
DRIVE Electric Arizona's Solar + EVs resource explains how rooftop solar, electric vehicles, home charging, battery storage and smart charging can work together — including considerations for households that already have solar and those thinking about installing it.
Scientific American: How Solar Became the Cheapest Form of Energy in the World • DRIVE Electric Arizona: Solar + Electric Vehicles