PV Gap

Ivan Said:

How much do solar panels cost?

We Answered:

Solar panels typically cost in the range of 8 to 10 dollars per kilowatt of power they are capable of providing. That same kilowatt of power costs in the range of 8 to 10 cents normally.

This is the reason solar is not all that viable, without government incentives.

The person who responded "You're looking at $10,000 to $40,000..." is so far off the real answer as to not even be funny. I suspect a solar pv system for a school would start in the $400,000 to $500,000 range. Many areas though have incentives, which will reduce the actual out of pocket costs (but not to $10k).

Vanessa Said:

If the federal government can help us get an education, can it help us get solar panels?

We Answered:

That is a very expensive way to produce electricity.

A $30,000 solar panel system installed on your home will have an annual production of electricity of about 4,000 kilowatt hours.

If you finance that with a loan at 6% interest (a very cheap interest rate) your annual interest cost is $1,800. That is 45 cents per kilowatt hour, which is very expensive for electricity.

You would be very unhappy with your local utility company if they charged you 45 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity.

If instead that money were spent on wind turbines, the cost of production of electricity is 4 cents per kilowatt hour using wind turbines. That is less than one tenth of the cost using solar photovoltaics.

I think that it makes much more sense for the government to fund electricity production by wind turbines because it is so much more cost effective.

Wade Said:

Explain different reasons why prices of solar panels must be dropped, please be particular and longer, longer?

We Answered:

In the long term, the price of technology goods has a floor at the raw material cost. Solar panels are not at this point, yet, so in the long term, I expect price drops.

In the short term, the market forces of supply and demand will dominate. There is capacity for much greater supply, but manufacturers have scaled back in the slowing economy. One would think that the economy would have killed demand, but yet I see vigorous demand in my local region. So it's chaotic - hard to say which way prices will go in the next few months.

Laura Said:

How much was the price of solar panels 5 years ago compared to now?

We Answered:

For just 5 years ago, certainly not! Perhaps you are thinking of 50 years ago, the kind that was put on the early communication satellites?

5 years ago, there was a glut of polysilicon, so modules were actually a little cheaper than today. Solar cell makers were basically using the scraps thrown away by chipmakers. But today, more silicon goes into making solar cells than computer chips, so that bonanza is gone.

We will see prices going lower this year, possibly 20% from last year, because of improvements in technology, but also an increase in polysilicon supply, and a slowdown in demand due to worldwide recession. Later this year is a good time to buy panels, if you have the cash.

The industry site below tracks module prices. They used to have more data, but I guess the old data rolls off the screen with time. If you want to see the details, they'll charge you for the report.

Ricardo Said:

explain different reasons why prices of solar panels must be dropped, please be particular and longer, longer?

We Answered:

For solar generated energy to be competitively priced in the US, panel cost must come down. As it stands today, solar costs are 2-5 times that of existing generation. (Coal, hydro, natural gas)

This is not necessarily true all over the world. There are already a significant number of locales solely dependent on solar generation and the usual battery storage. They did not have infrastructure (poles and lines) to transmit electricity from distant sources so new solar installation was considerably cheaper.

Armando Said:

Solar Panels Prices?

We Answered:

I'm also a strong believer in solar but like you said its to expensive. Check out this company. I think you would be interested in what they have to offer.
http://www.jointhesolution.com/therisingsun