New highly efficient solar photovoltaic cells developed by ASU are a game changer that may bring down the cost of solar energy even further. With efficiency of the electricity generation a key factor in the cost of solar electricity any increase would generally bring costs lower as long as the cost and lifespan of the new panels allow it.

If new types of solar panels are half the price but only last half as long ( typically warranted for 25 years) then they are worse than silicon. It is important to understand that they have to be either less than half the price - or last more than half as long - in order to overcome the cost of installing a new set at end of life. Silicon degrades slowly - and the lifespan is longer than the warrantees generally allow.

Traditionally "the perovskite solar cells suffered from low efficiencies and lacked stability to be broadly used in manufacturing" but ASU has new techniques that break that model and make them hugely efficient up to "23.6 percent efficiency for a tandem solar cell stacked with perovskite and silicon" according to the report.

Given the number of breakthroughs in technical development and that silicon and now perovskite based cells can follow the same Moore's law trajectory of efficiencies it would be foolish to bet against solar becoming increasingly cheaper.