Where is Solar Energy?

Last week Mark Perry posted an interesting factoiod on solar energy on his blog Carpe Diem:

In the December 1974 issue of Popular Science Magazine, there was an article titled “Solar Cells: When Will You Plug Into Electricity from Sunshine?” that discussed the future of solar energy. The article predicted that by 1986 the cost per watt at peak power would be down to $0.30 ($0.60 in today’s dollars) based on projections from the National Science Foundation.

…

By 2007, solar prices were actually about $3.66 per watt (about six times higher than predicted), and were predicted in this 2008 article to fall to $2.14 per watt in 2010.

It got me to thinking…what ARE the prices of solar energy compared to traditional costs?

This is what I found:

Month	Year	Residential Cost Per kilowatt-hour	Solar Cost Per kilowatt-hour	Solar Cost Per Kilowatt
January	2008	$10.15	$37.63	$4.83
February	2008	$10.19	$37.61	$4.81
March	2008	$10.47	$37.61	$4.88
April	2008	$10.92	$37.61	$4.81
May	2008	$11.39	$37.61	$4.81
June	2008	$11.75	$37.62	$4.82
July	2008	$12.05	$37.67	$4.83
August	2008	$12.06	$37.72	$4.83
September	2008	$11.90	$37.77	$4.85
October	2008	$11.81	$37.78	$4.85
November	2008	$11.43	$37.74	$4.85
December	2008	$10.90	$37.65	$4.85
January	2009	$10.99	$37.48	$4.84
February	2009	$11.18	$37.40	$4.81
March	2009	$11.33	$37.15	$4.78
April	2009	$11.55	$37.01	$4.74
May	2009	$11.80	$36.88	$4.70
June	2009	$11.85	$36.59	$4.61
July	2009	$11.90	$36.36	$4.56
August	2009	$12.00	$35.89	$4.45
September	2009	$12.00	$35.61	$4.39
October	2009	$11.70	$35.48	$4.38
November	2009	$11.33	$35.35	$4.34
December	2009	$10.93	$35.27	$4.31
January	2010	$10.54	$35.22	$4.30
February	2010	$10.93	$35.08	$4.27