Solar power prices expected to decline 50% by 2050: Ajay Mathur

Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance (ISA)

Solar power prices are expected to decline by 50 percent from current costs by 2050, said Ajay Mathur, director general, International Solar Alliance (ISA).

The ISA, jointly conceived by India and France, is a grouping of countries working to propagate clean solar energy.

Speaking at the annual energy event of KPMG, Enrich 2022, Mathur said the decline in solar prices will help produce green hydrogen at reduced costs.

“In areas which have good solar insulation, we will start seeing solar hydrogen becoming competitive with gas-based hydrogen even now,” Mathur said regarding the implications of a reduction in solar prices.

He added he expects solar prices to fall approximately 30 percent by 2030.

Hydrogen as a fuel is produced through the process of electrolysis which is powered either by fossil fuels including coal or natural gas (grey hydrogen) or renewable energies such as wind or solar (green hydrogen).

Last month, in an interview with Moneycontrol, Mathur had said India should use the one-year window as G20 president to push for a centre of excellence on green hydrogen standards.

At the KPMG event, Mathur said that the manufacturers of electrolysers are now looking at much larger scales which has brought down costs with far lower risks. Therefore, hydrogen is being produced from electrolysis of water at far lower costs.

In the last five years, the cost of solar electricity has dropped by almost 30 percent which has also contributed to the reduced cost of hydrogen, he added.