Solar could become the world’s dominant source of energy over the next 15 years, displacing large volumes of fossil fuels and generating $5 trillion in revenue, according to the latest analysis by Deutsche Bank.
“Over the next five to 10 years, we expect new business models to generate a significant amount of economic and shareholder value,” states a research team led by analyst Vishal Shah.
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“As we look out over the next five years, we believe the industry is set to experience the final piece of cost reduction—customer acquisition costs for distributed generation are set to decline by more than half as customer awareness increases, soft costs come down, and more supportive policies are announced.”
The researchers added: “We believe utility-scale solar demand is set to accelerate in both the U.S. and emerging markets due to a combination of supportive policies and ongoing solar electricity cost reduction. We remain particularly optimistic over growth prospects in China, India, the Middle East, South Africa, and South America.”
The Deutsche Bank results point to a 10-fold increase in solar business by 2030, with the industry capturing 100 million new customers and 10% of the global electricity market. “By 2050, it suggests, solar’s share will be 30% of the market, and developing markets will see the greatest growth,” RenewEconomy reports.
