PV Gap

Eugene Said:

Is the present installed cost for photovoltaic power $4 per watt?

We Answered:

That answer was way off. The actual "real installed cost" is about $10 per Watt. Sometimes there are "buydowns" and 'rebates", etc offered by the Federal Gov't, State Gov't, or utilities to buy the cost down another dollar or two, but even then the cost is still about $8 to $9 per Watt.
The guys in "sales mode" don't tell you about the expensive "inverter" that is needed to convert the 12 Volts produced into 120 Volts to use in your home. This is several thousand dollars more added on. And this electronic unit may fail in 6 or 8 years and you have to purchase another one. And if you want to use this power at night --- you need to purchase "batteries" to store the energy, because the sun does not shine at night. The daytime power needs to be stored, and this requires many batteries. A single battery is about $100, and you might need 20 or 30.

It never pencils out economically to buy the solar units. A 2 or 3 kW unit that would be required for your home will cost $20,000 to $30,000 installed. It is enough to run your toaster and your microwave at the same time.

Gina Said:

Present installed cost for photovoltaic power is $4 per watt. Do they mean $4 per peak watt, or $4 per average?

We Answered:

It would have to be for peak watt since they do not know the pattern of usage for a specific consumer. Some of this expense could be offset by sent electricity to the "grid". Like all technology this will get cheaper the only question is when.

Ernest Said:

how much is the cost of Chinese photovoltaic solar panel /m2?

We Answered:

Depends on the model about £50

Shelly Said:

Do you agree with Nature magazine that solar is the most expensive way to generate electricity?

We Answered:

Solar energy is very expensive compared to other alternatives.. That is because of the lowenergy density of sunlight. Anything that has to be collected over a larger area is more expensive. The manufacturing cost and mantaineance are high. There are also toxic waste issues with the manufacturing.

Another problem with solar is where do you put then. The green loving politicians in the state of California have made it illegal to put solar panels in the desert. Even in areas with the most sun there are days that there is no sun. To use sun more than a few hours a day, you have to move the panels to track the sun. That uses energy. and makes the systems more expensive. This is different than windmills that can use the wind to move themselves.

Nuclear power is intentionally made more expensive by politicians, becuase they are not interested in a solution to the problem. They sabotage all attempts to make safe centralized spent fuel storage and recycling, and then complain that there is no where to store the spent fuel.

If we all had nuclear power, there would be no need for climate change research, cap and trade.
Whether you believe in climate change or not, it would not matter.
There would be no be no purpose in life for certain politicians.

Many who support climate change agenda, only do so because they what they really want is to destroy our way of life. If they get their way, when everything is destroyed beyond any recovery, they will say I am bored now, can you put things back the way they were?

Glenn Said:

What is the cost of starting a PV(Photovoltaic) manufacturing facility?

We Answered:

Real estate and labor cost will vary greatly depending on where it will be.
The cost of constructing the facility, engineering, testing government approval of the product may depend on what kind of photovoltaic process is being done.
Single crystal - Mono-crystalline, Polycrystalline - Multi-crystalline, Amorphous, flat or concentrator types of panels each have concerns in manufacturing.