Solar Power Grid Parity

I had not heard this phrase before. I heard about it watching a CEO panel discussion at the 2007 Solar Conference and Expo.

The phrase “Solar Power Grid Parity” means the point at which photovoltaic electricity is equal to or cheaper than grid power. Many of the CEO’s on the panel thought it would take many years for this to happen.President George Bush thinks it will happen in 2015.

Wikipedia on this subject indicates the Hawaii is already at the parity point. I was just in Hawaii a couple of months ago and noticed on Maui that they installed 20 new windmills which I understand powers 8% to 10% of the islands power. I also noticed that in some neighborhoods (not the super nice homes) that 90% of the houses had at least one solar panel (hot water system) on the roof.

On some of the solar panels (mostly in Kihei) that some had electric dormers that could cover the panels - not sure why.
It dawned on me that they can’t just ship coal out to the island they had to ship in diesel fuel.

A lot of the times you could only see half of the windmills on the mountain side because 1/2 were in the clouds.

I can definitely see how Hawaii has reached Solar Power Grid Parity.