Whatever Happened to the Promise of Cheap Solar?

In that case, you have a golden opportunity to figure out how to make inexpensive solar panels, undercut these alleged gougers, and clean up in the marketplace. Best wishes for success!

The promise of cheap solar came mainly from people who had no idea of what the equipment cost but were smart enough to figure out that the sun's rays arrived all on their own. Nobody 'sold out' at all as far as İ can see. The PV panels have come down in price both due to the recession and competetion. Pure fact of the matter is that grid connected solar PV power today costs between 5 and 10 times what grid power does. Off grid is far more expensive yet. The panels are only part of the cost. Until the storage problem is resolved to be able to time shift power from when the sun is shining to time periods where the demand is - not much will happen. At present all solar and wind has to be backed up by standby power - normally gas plants that are forced to operate at lousy efficiencies to back up the 'green' power.

What happened to the promise of cheap solar? They lied!

Actually 1 USD per watt is available on the market today if that is what you are looking for. When startups are raising funds their projected costs often have little to do with reality.

let's not forget the issue of efficiency. At the low efficiencies of most PV panels, you need a LOT of space to generate a decent amount of power. There are some experimental multilayer designs that can hit 40-43% efficiency (Vs. 18-22% for normal PV panels), but the costs to make them are quite literally astronomical and they are only economically feasible for spacecraft use.

Please tell me from where. The last price i got was US $ 3/watt. I want a 50 Kw setup for my Client's head office computers.

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/products.folder/module-folder/kaneka/kaneka60.html

it takes time, money and breakthroughs. Breakthroughs are now on the horizon... time and money are key for scaleup so in about 5-7 years, you will have grid parity with solar. with scale-up of GW scale factories. Until then, the early adopters will pay the higher prices for the solar panels. The utilities are in a position to pay for the costly panels (mandated by the govt and also cheaper than setting up a new coal plant) hence the current market is the utilities.

With the present situation utilities only install solar under mandates where they are forced to and are paid high costs for the power. Today solar is not at all competetive with any other source - except wind. At present solar plus wind is such a small input it doesn't make much difference but in the future the intermittent and variable nature creates a major problem for the grid. PV efficiencies (nominal) on commercial panels today: 1) silicon 17% 2) thin film 10%.

Whatever Happened to the Promise of Cheap Solar? Reality struck again...

Same as last time; when was it in the 1970's and the economy tanked, customer based vanished.

Nanosolar is sold out for at least the next three years, unfortunately they won't sell direct to the user and it seems that the cheapness of their product isn't making it beyond the middlemen...

I picked up on nanosolar being sold out by watching this Nova Special.

Lots and lots of good info that should help answer the OP.

Thanks for the pointer, unfortunately I am based in the Philippines & you need to be in the United States to view 'Nova' :)

Kebang,

I was looking into cheap solar panels a while back, ran a google search and found a site - " Ali Baba " dot com ( the name makes me a little nervous) which list hundreds of Chinese solar panel manufacturers and you, being closer to there anyways might find the best deal-- most of the American big name companies seem to be more intereted in stock manipulation and subsidies than real panel sales.

Good luck

Soy Cowboy

Solar materials require a lot of steps and procesess to make. Some materials are less effecient and a little easier to make. The Material science of solar materials has a lot of room for some Hennery Ford to come along and lower the cost of making these. Solar materials are manufactured using more or less the same technology and processes that Computer chips are made. The cost will continue to come down. More people need to tinker with these processes. Vacuum chambers and Micro wave deposition . growing crystalls, all very interesting lots of room for new ideas.

I worked on the controls for the construction of a thin-film solar panel pilot line over 15 years ago. It was a pretty big job back then, with a large PLC, SCADA, multiple servos, and lots of integration of vacuum pumps and gas controllers.

It's not a job for a tinkerer. The people involved in the process development were PhD level. It is true the process is akin to semiconductor fabrication, the difference is large glass substrates instead of silicon wafers. Either way, building plants to do this is a multi-million dollar endeavor. The company I was a contractor for bungled the project and ultimately it failed. To name names, it was Solarex, which became Amoco Enron Solar, which is now BP Solar. Last I heard BP was cutting back on it's solar efforts. It's probably the least of their worries, now!

Another key aspect is the 20-30 year warranty. While many may be able to sell you for low costs, you gotta wonder if they will last 20-30 years to fulfill their warranty terms? You almost need a established company with some kind of insurance to ensure that their product is guaranteed else you will be left holding the bills if the darn thing peels--delaminates--decomposes in 4-5 years.

What does your homeowner's insurance company think about solar panels? Do you know? You may be surprised to learn that your insurance company views renewable energy installations as a potential additional liability, rather than an integral part of your house for which coverage is provided in the event of a loss. Do you need special solar panel insurance?

more here

Re: Homeowners insurance - A rider for solar is next to nothing from what İ understand and in most cases they are covered. İf the panels do not have the necessary certification from testing/certification agencies such as UL, installations may well void the home owners insurance even if there is a rider attached to the policy.

Not around here it isn't. Of course around here we have hurricanes that like to rip solar panels off your roof too.....

The really savvy solar panel companies are on top of that design issue. .....Ed Weldon

1) You should never consider any panels that don't offer at least a 20 years warranty - that is the minimum from good companies. 2) Most of the companies offering PV panels will soon be history in which event the warranty is meaningless. You should only buy from one of the large companies that will most likely be around.

"Nanosolar is sold out for at least the next three years, unfortunately they won't sell direct to the user and it seems that the cheapness of their product isn't making it beyond the middlemen"

This is a great point... probably one of the reasons these "cheap" solar panels haven't hit consumer markets yet is because getting them to the end customer is really expensive. Whether you do it through solar installation companies, retailers, or other distribution networks, it adds a lot to the final price. In the end that either cuts their margins (slim already), or it adds to the consumer's price (no longer cheap panels).