PV Gap

Terrence Said:

Solar panels in my school?

We Answered:

SolarCentral's answer sounds to be right on ... the price might be a bit higher in Oz bucks ... say about $10 per watt because of the exchange rate with USD.

I assume that price is for an "on the grid" system due to the size of the college, in which case a large chunk of money would be saved on the number of batteries required to store the power produced. An on the grid system wouldn't need many batteries and you would make some money to offset the cost by selling to the grid. I'd still keep ~10% in battery storage capacity just for power outages.

Willie Said:

Solar panels - alternative energy and business?

We Answered:

There are no import restrictions on solar panels from the United States.

No price controls on solar products. It's an open market in terms of goods selected by the goverment and private citizens and companies in regards to products. Shipping costs on solar products are low enough that US goods are competitive. The barrier to entry right now is finding distributors for american goods.