https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/09/offensively-cheap-so...
> At the turn of the millennium, solar panels cost $5-$6 per watt of generation capacity. Today, they sell for around 12 cents per watt, a level described as “offensively cheap” by Dave Jones, co-founder of think-tank Ember.
Interesting solar PV facts (as of this comment):
- Wood Mackenzie estimates Chinese solar manufacturing capacity at roughly 1.36TW.
- By the end of 2025, installed small-scale solar capacity worldwide had reached ~1.2TW.
- While solar does not generate at full capacity around the clock, the installed total is about three times the size of the global nuclear fleet.
- Ember Energy expects Africa to add about 17GW of solar this year.
- In the Philippines, rooftop solar capacity may have nearly doubled in the 12 months through April, rooftop systems generated 372 gigawatt hours in the first six months of the year and residential systems can now pay for themselves there in a little more than three years.
- India is scaling rooftop systems through a national subsidy program launched in February 2024. The program has installed panels on more than 5 million homes and is adding about 500,000 homes a month.