As technology advances, solar power is becoming increasingly economical in many parts of the world. Solar power is expected to overtake coal as the world's lowest-cost power generation option within 10 years, Bloomberg reported recently.

Combined with 2016 data, solar power has hit record lows in several countries around the world, averaging about half the cost of coal-fired power. Chile offered 2.91 cents per kilowatt-hour at its August solar auction. In September, the United Arab Emirates offered a new low of 2.42 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Now, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Mexico are planning solar power tenders this year and hope to lower prices even further, Bloomberg reports. Other European companies, including Italy's Enel and Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power, have turned their sights to emerging markets in other parts of the world with the huge sums they have amassed.

According to the data, the average global price of solar power has fallen 62% since 2009, based on falling costs across the supply chain. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that by 2025, the average global cost of solar power generation could be lower than that of coal-fired power.

Anan Amin, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said: "Every doubling of solar installations brings electricity prices down by about 20 percent. This will be a game changer for the electricity market."

According to Bloomberg, advances in technology are a key factor driving the solar industry's rapid advance. In addition, growing economies of scale and experience have also made solar power market competitive. According to JennyChase, head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the current average cost of generating electricity is about $1.14 per watt for each additional megawatt of terrestrial solar power installed. But that figure is expected to fall to 73 cents per watt by 2025, a 36 percent drop.

In the U.S., for example, the price of solar power in parts of the Southwest, currently close to $1 a watt, could fall to 75 cents a watt by 2021, says MJShiao, an analyst at GTM Research. But the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has a slightly more conservative forecast. DonaldChung, senior project leader at the lab, said the cost of solar power could fall to $1 per watt by 2020, but he expects the decline to continue until 2030.

SamiKhoreibi, founder and chief executive of Enviromena Power Systems, an ABU Dhabi-based solar developer, says solar power is in effect in a "small profit, big turnover" mode and that falling prices will be the "norm" in the future.

The International Energy Agency expects the cost of utility-scale solar power to fall by an average of 25 per cent over the next five years. The International Renewable Energy Agency expects the cost of solar power to fall by 43 to 65 per cent by 2025, a cumulative decline of up to 84 per cent from 2009 levels.

However, Bloomberg noted that while the cost of solar power will continue to fall on average, the decline may not be uniform across countries and regions around the world. For example, in Europe and Brazil, the price of solar power is expected to be lower than that of coal-fired power by around 2020 due to coal imports and carbon tax policies. In countries such as India, which has large coal reserves of its own, it may take longer for solar power prices to fall below those of coal-fired power.

In the face of the industry's optimism about solar power, the coal power industry as a "reference" is not "discouraged".

Benjamin Sporton, chief executive of the World Coal Association, argues that the cost of renewable generation often does not take into account the cost of back-up power supply, and once this is included, the economic advantages of coal will remain clear even in 2035.

"What all economies need in the process of rapid development is round-the-clock access to electricity." "But wind and solar power are intermittent. So while some of the renewable generation has come down significantly in cost in recent years, the cost of electricity has to be looked at in terms of the overall cost of the supply system."

However, even so, the industry still believe that the price of solar electricity has been able to compete in the market "strength". China, the world's largest solar market, could make solar power cheaper than coal-fired power by 2030, according to forecasts from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In addition, countries and regions with relatively good sunshine conditions may take the lead in reducing the cost of electricity generation in the future.

"We have seen the new market reality." That solar will probably be the lowest cost source of electricity in the future, "Khoreibi said. "We can expect that the cost of solar power will continue to fall as technology develops."

Solar energy may Become the most economical source of electricity