Solar photovoltaics (PV) is already the cheapest form of electricity generation in many countries and market segments. Market prices of PV modules and systems have developed so fast that it is difficult to find reliable up to date public data on real PV capital (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) on which to base the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) calculations. This paper projects the future utility‐scale PV LCOE until 2050 in several European countries. It uses the most recent and best available public input data for the PV LCOE calculations and future projections. Utility‐scale PV LCOE in 2019 in Europe with 7% nominal weighted average cost of capital (WACC) ranges from 24 €/MWh in Malaga to 42 €/MWh in Helsinki. This is remarkable since the average electricity day‐ahead market price in Finland was 47 €/MWh and in Spain 57 €/MWh in 2018. This means that PV is already cheaper than average spot market electricity all over Europe. By 2030, PV LCOE will range from 14 €/MWh in Malaga to 24 €/MWh in Helsinki with 7% nominal WACC. This range will be 9 to 15 €/MWh by 2050, making PV clearly the cheapest form of electricity generation everywhere. Sensitivity analysis shows that apart from location, WACC is the most important input parameter in the calculation of PV LCOE. Increasing nominal WACC from 2 to 10% will double the LCOE. Changes in PV CAPEX and OPEX, learning rates, or market volume growth scenarios have a relatively smaller impact on future PV LCOE.

Photovoltaic (PV) module temperature predictions are crucial to accurately assess the efficiency of PV installations. In this study we focus on the cooling effect of wind on PV cell temperature. We show that for most of the technologies installed at a PV test facility in Bolzano (Italy), models including wind data predict PV cell temperature better than standard approaches which do not include wind data. Moreover, we show that wind data from numerical weather prediction models can replace in-situ wind measurements: when they are used as model input, the prediction also improves significantly compared to the standard approach

Green hydrogen will be an essential part of the future 100% sustainable energy and industry system. Up to one‐third of the required solar and wind electricity would eventually be used for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, increasing the cumulative electrolyzer capacity to about 17 TW_el by 2050. The key method applied in this research is a learning curve approach for the key technologies, i.e., solar photovoltaics (PV) and water electrolyzers, and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Sensitivities for the hydrogen demand and various input parameters are considered. Electrolyzer capital expenditure (CAPEX) for a large utility‐scale system is expected to decrease from the current 400 €/kW_el to 240 €/kW_el by 2030 and to 80 €/kW_el by 2050. With the continuing solar PV cost decrease, this will lead to an LCOH decrease from the current 31–81 €/MWh_H2,LHV (1.0–2.7 €/kg_H2) to 20–54 €/MWh_H2,LHV (0.7–1.8 €/kg_H2) by 2030 and 10–27 €/MWh_H2,LHV (0.3–0.9 €/kg_H2) by 2050, depending on the location. The share of PV electricity cost in the LCOH will increase from the current 63% to 74% by 2050.