For decades, solar power companies have worked hard to drive the cost of solar-generated electricity downward, to compete with “conventional” central power plants. “Grid parity” is considered to be 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour – the average cost of utility-supplied electricity across the United States.

Speakers at the opening plenary session of SOLAR 2009 said we’ll be at grid parity within a year or two – but that it may not matter.

Ajeet Rohtgi, winner of this year’s Hoyt Clarke Hot [...]

Two stories came through this week that made me blink:

Pacific Gas & Electric signed a preliminary agreement to buy power generated in space,  and the Vatican announced plans to build a 100 MW solar power plant — the largest in Europe — and export electricity to Italy.

In the March issue of SOLAR TODAY I wrote a skeptical piece about the chances anyone will ever launch a satellite that can beam utility-scale power to Earth (see page 18).

But I’m glad the Pope has fait [...]