PV Gap

Angela Said:

what is the name of the company that produces solar panels for PG&E?

We Answered:

Go to findsolar.com.

Jeffery Said:

Wrong or right? Does the reduction of feed in tariff in Germany directly affect solar companies?

We Answered:

Tariffs increases on all imports for consumables directly affects the retail price. By reducing the Tariffs on imported goods would normally reduce the retail price for the consumer.

Feed in tariffs from excess production of energy into the energy grid would also affect the consumer who purchase solar panels enabling them to gain cheaper alternative to mainstream power energy generated supply from another producer who owns the power grid would only benefit in monetary terms.

If the Tariff on the importation of solar panels is reduced then the cost to the consumer would benefit from cheaper imported solar panels. If the solar panels Tariff is increased then the solar panels may be out of reach of the average consumer who would not be able to afford such a luxury. Although if the increase Tariff applied to Solar Panel importation would strengthen production in the country concerned creating more employment. The balance is the cost of manufacturing where labour costs exceeds the retail price of the imported product, thus making the homogeneous product too dear for the average consumer to afford. Sometimes Governments may off set this market by introducing reimbursement either through tax benefits or subsidy payment of the total retail price.

Miriam Said:

Any companies that have solar panels?

We Answered:

Lots of companies sell solar panels, even Home Depot and Lowe's sell smaller ones. The problem is that they're pretty limited right now due to the cost. Unless the cost of electricity skyrocketed, you're unlikely to recover your investment thru savings on your bill. In Germany they've had much more widespread adoption of solar panels but only because their federal government subsidized the cost. At present solar cells (photovoltaic) are too expensive, they require a lot of care and use exotic metals, and it would take an awful lot of them to produce enough electricity for the average US home. They are handy for charging portable gadgets when you're away from an outlet but it's not yet viable for home use on it's own. You'd still need to be hooked up to the grid or have a back-up power source for cloudy days and night-time, or banks of batteries or another storage method.

Pairing it with wind power makes some sense, but even so photovoltaic may not be the best way to go. Another technology is solar thermal which uses mirrors to focus sunlight on an overhead tube or pipe that is filled with a liquid. The concentrated sunlight makes that liquid boil and the steam is used to turn a small turbine to generate electricity. This can be much more efficient and also a lot less prone to damage or problems with scratched/dirty panels. At the moment I don't know of anyone who is making these for home use but a couple of companies are building power plants in Nevada and other places using this technology. Hopefully in a year or two a home kit may be available.

You could probably design and build your own solar thermal plant using everyday materials since the materials are fairly basic, mirrors, tubing, a liquid (usually water) and so on. Some know-how or a good manual would be helpful but if you're handy with machinery and tools it shouldn't be too difficult. But the average home uses a lot of energy and even this would require a lot of roof-space. If you changed your home to run on LED lighting, got high-efficiency appliances and turned off devices that weren't in use it would be easier to do.

New thin-film cells are better but still so costly that it would take decades to get your investment back in cost savings. It's probably a bit too early for most people to install solar panels to power their homes but with more research and tax incentives that might change in the next few years. I expect solar thermal will become the dominant technology, since we lack enough exotic materials to make massive numbers of conventional photovoltaic cells.

Ryan Said:

how can the electric companies afford to put solar panels everywhere, but not on our houses?

We Answered:

Keep in mind the issues of scale:

Solar panels on a commercial scale cost something on the order of $7.25/watt to install, of which roughly half of that is for the panel itself (retail). This includes inverter technology but not storage. This works out to about $7,250 per KW installed.

A nuclear plant in today's dollars will run between $5,500 and $6,000 per KW installed.

A 5,000 watt solar system on your house will cost approximately $35,000 to install. Cheaper per watt than commercial as there is no supporting infrastructure to build.

The differences between actual costs and what is paid by the end-user are subsidies provided by state and local governments and utilities.

So, if you are in an unsubsidized area, you are perfectly free to install solar power on your property - if you can afford it.

Now, if full life-cycle costs are included (installation, maintenance, cost-of-operation, and final disposal when done) nuclear and solar are also very close in cost. The difference is that a 480MW nuclear plant may be fit on about 660 acres of ground including cooling towers, access roads, set-backs and so forth - and could be set on less than 100 acres if necessary (many are).

The same capacity solar plant (at 10 watts per square-foot, peak power) would cover 11,000 acres or so, *not* including infra-structure, access roads, set-backs and so forth.

Solar power is a feel-good solution that is pretty impractical on the face of it *UNLESS* there is no alternative solution. But, because it is being subsidized by various sources, is highly visible and has all sorts of warm-and-fuzzy but generally thoughtless advocates it is popular beyond its worth.

We are actually considering it _because_ of the subsidies. But at face-cost nohownoway.

Duane Said:

Where can I find a company to install solar panels that is located in the midwest?

We Answered:

Here are links to a companies in St. Louis.
http://www.missourisolarliving.com/
http://www.midamericasolar.com/

I believe Home Depot sells and installs solar.
Good for you for going solar.
Pay no attention to the poster above me. Solar panels are guaranteed for 25 years.

Gloria Said:

Why don't the American billionaires start companies building solar panels or any production in America?

We Answered:

U would think they would...if it were profitable.