Solar electricity is expected to be the cheapest generating source by the middle of the next decade. The winning bids in auctions to procure solar projects were US2.91¢ a KWh in Chile in August and US2.42¢ in September in Abu Dhabi. Expectations are that lower prices will be bid into new tenders this year in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Mexico . . . . The average one-megawatt solar system costs US$1.14 a watt to build today. Analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance expect the average cost to fall to US70¢ by 2025 . . . . The Southwest Power Pool is the first regional grid in the United States to serve more than half its load from wind electricity. It reached 52.1% wind at 4:30 a.m. on February 12. The SPP serves 14 states in the central US from North Dakota south to Texas.