The price of solar power may fall to about $100 per megawatt-hour by 2030, the International Energy Agency said today.

The decline in price may make solar a “key contributor” to the global electricity supply after 2060, IEA solar analyst Cedric Philibert said in a presentation in Kassel, Germany.

The price compares with current costs of about $172 per megawatt-hour for the most efficient photovoltaic generators and $267 per megawatt-hour for solar-thermal plants using parabolic troughs and storage technology, according to estimates by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Philibert set out the findings from a study that aims to explore the potential limits of solar power and does not constitute a forecast. The full report will be published later this year.

Direct forms of power such a solar-thermal generators and photovoltaic panels would supply more than half the world’s electricity and a third of all energy under the scenario, Philibert said by e-mail.

Adding in less-developed technologies such as heat pumps, solar power could cover half of all energy needs. The pumps indirectly capture solar energy by using warmth from the atmosphere to heat homes, Philibert said