Solar panels are seen at a solar farm Aug. 20, 2015 in Hughesville, Maryland.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

At a Glance

Despite tariffs on solar power, new solar energy projects are cheaper than ever.A new project in Nevada announced this week is the cheapest solar auction in the United States.This project breaks a record that was set just one week ago.

Solar auctions continue to drop to record lows in the United States, even as tariffs are imposed in favor of keeping the coal and natural gas industries afloat as renewable energy takes over.

The latest example occurred this week when a Nevada solar auction sold at a rate of $23.76 per megawatt-hour in a 25-year contract , according to Earther. The facility is expected to be ready in 2021, and it breaks a one-week-old record for the country's cheapest solar project, the report added.

"On their face, they’re less than a third the price of building a new coal or natural gas power plant," energy expert Ramez Naam told Earther in an email. "In fact, building these plants is cheaper than just operating an existing coal or natural gas plant."

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It's just another sign that the solar energy train isn't slowing down – if anything, it's accelerating right through the tariffs. Solar markets analysts say prices are dropping even faster than expected, and it's allowing solar projects in sunny, arid parts of the country , Green Tech Media said.

This has created a win-win scenario, Vote Solar executive director Adam Browning told Green Tech Media: it's more affordable than ever to flood the market with clean energy. This creates momentum for solar power that's difficult to stop – even with tariffs.

"There aren’t scores of renewable energy alternatives to coal and gas plants and the renewable drive is gathering speed across the country, ," said an OilPrice.com report. "You can basically choose between solar, wind, and hydro, and solar is perhaps the most flexible of these: the sun shines everywhere."