Study claims solar power cost-competitive with nuclear

Because projected costs for construction of new nuclear plants have risen steadily and costs of photovoltaic installations are falling, it is now cheaper to get power from PV gear than from proposed new nuclear plants, at least in North Carolina. So claim Duke University researchers who recently studied the matter.

Solar costs are steadily dropping for residential users.

"Commercial-scale solar developers are already offering utilities electricity at 14 cents or less per kWh. Duke Energy and Progress Energy are limiting or rejecting these offers and pushing ahead with plans for nuclear plants which, if ever completed, would generate electricity at much higher costs — 14–18 cents per kilowatt-hour according to present estimates," says John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham in "The Historic Crossover Solar Energy is Now the Better Buy."

However, readers might keep in mind a couple of caveats: The study was prepared for an advocacy group called NC Warn, and it is not peer reviewed.

You can find the PDF here: http://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/NCW-SolarReport_final1.pdf