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  • The cost of solar panels

    Founder of ANTECY, Paul O'Conner claims:

    "The price of solar panels is coming down drastically. Many companies are going broke because it's coming down so fast they can't keep up with it. By the end of this decade electricity from solar energy will be cheaper than coal or gas."

    Source: http://www.power-technology.com/feat...ewable-energy/

    Is this true? Are solar panels really becoming cheap?

  • #2
    Originally posted by JMS View Post
    Is this true? Are solar panels really becoming cheap?
    They are indeed becoming very cheap; you can now get panels for under $1 a watt. From a pure electrical energy perspective power from such panels is cheaper than utility power over the life of the panel. (For example in San Diego straight payback time for a $1/watt panel is around 4 years.)

    However, that's not the only cost of solar. You need racking, wiring, conduit, inverters, disconnects and breakers. You need to install and commission the system. All that adds up quickly, which is why payback times are around 16-20 years without incentives.

    Also be wary of this statement - "By the end of this decade electricity from solar energy will be cheaper than coal or gas." That makes it sound like solar can _replace_ coal or gas. (Or nuclear, or hydro, or whatever.) Solar is an opportunistic source of power; it generates when the sun is out. It cannot generate base load power. Until there is a cheap method of storing all the power that solar produces when it's sunny, it will represent a small overall percentage of generation in any grid power system.

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    • #3
      In my township, the permit guys have a stealthy cost. You apply for the permit and they tell you the price after they review it.

      $.50 per sq. ft. This price is not on their forms. Guy there said "well, it's on the web site". That was after I paid the permit fee. I needed it back in order to get my shed installed and included solar on there just in case I go ahead with it.

      For me, I just tried getting a permit to do an 8KW system. $268 for the solar part of the permit. That's before doing anything else. Heh - glad I wasn't doing thin-film which is far less efficient per sq. foot.

      Sure, it's only .033/Watt for the permit, but things add up. Still about $4.50/Watt for Tier-1 product in S. East Pennsylvania. Many installers have stopped serving the area. They can do systems with Chinese panels for $4/Watt. That's 8-12 year payback with the current Federal 30% only incentive. If panels were free, the system would still be about $2.80/Watt. Or $22K+ for an 8KW system.

      My next call is to my homeowners insurance to see how much blood - I mean money - they want from me every year to protect such a system.

      Basing a Solar PV system on how much the panels have lowered in price is like getting excited to buy a new car because of the lower cost of tires if rubber suddenly got cheap
      PowerOne 3.6 x 2, 32 SolarWorld 255W mono

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      • #4
        Originally posted by bonaire View Post
        In my township, the permit guys have a stealthy cost. You apply for the permit and they tell you the price after they review it.

        $.50 per sq. ft. This price is not on their forms. Guy there said "well, it's on the web site". That was after I paid the permit fee. I needed it back in order to get my shed installed and included solar on there just in case I go ahead with it.

        For me, I just tried getting a permit to do an 8KW system. $268 for the solar part of the permit. That's before doing anything else. Heh - glad I wasn't doing thin-film which is far less efficient per sq. foot.

        Sure, it's only .033/Watt for the permit, but things add up. Still about $4.50/Watt for Tier-1 product in S. East Pennsylvania. Many installers have stopped serving the area. They can do systems with Chinese panels for $4/Watt. That's 8-12 year payback with the current Federal 30% only incentive. If panels were free, the system would still be about $2.80/Watt. Or $22K+ for an 8KW system.

        My next call is to my homeowners insurance to see how much blood - I mean money - they want from me every year to protect such a system.

        Basing a Solar PV system on how much the panels have lowered in price is like getting excited to buy a new car because of the lower cost of tires if rubber suddenly got cheap
        Same system in Maryland
        8 KW siliken 250 black modules and racking portrait
        Fronius 7.5IG+ with personal monitor.
        Without engineering which some AHJ's require I can do for $3.26 a watt turnkey
        NABCEP certified Technical Sales Professional

        [URL="http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?5334-Solar-Off-Grid-Battery-Design"]http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...Battery-Design[/URL]

        [URL]http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html[/URL] (Voltage drop Calculator among others)

        [URL="http://www.gaisma.com"]www.gaisma.com[/URL]

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