PV Gap

Brent Said:

how much did solar power costs for consuming central ac & cost also?

We Answered:

Your question is not clear. But I will make a stab at it anyway. Extrapolating a range of variables and making some assumptions and omitting some factors to create a "number."

On average, if you know the capacity of the system, in terms of "tonnage", say a 10 ton system for a small function hall with ceiling fans. For some climates oversized, for some undersized. the power consumption for this estimation would be about 2.5kw/hrs per ton of capacity. A 10 ton system would consume approximately 25 Kilowatts per hour. A large home could easily have 3 or 4 ton capacity systems. A small home could have a 1 or 2 ton capacity. Many assumptions are made with specifics to area and volume of the space, air changeover rates, insulation values, etc.

How often is it run? what is the outside temp and humidity level? all will affect how much these cost to run for a given time. Variations in the machines, even from the same factory can impact costs as well.

So if you know your degree days to develop an estimate of "on time," assuming the same humidity level, you can translate that number of days it is on to hours and multiply by kilowatts based on the capacity of the system, and then multiply by your hourly rate per kilowatt.

If you read up on what goes into sizing an AC system prior to an initial installation, you will be able to fill in blanks and develop a more accurate estimate for your specific location in India. Although this site is US centered, there are some areas of the US that are comparable to much of India even though it is largely further south than most of the US.
http://www.warmair.net/html/AirCondition…
http://www.ahrinet.org/Content/AirCondit…

Craig Said:

How much would it cost to install solar power to a 1400 sq ft. home in rural colorado?

We Answered:

It depends on how much electricity you plan to
use, and how many days storage capacity you'll
require. - Those winters can be fierce.
(If you plan to use electric cooking, heat, or A.C. -
forget it).
You'll need:
*Solar panels to gather a days worth of power in about
4 hours.
*A charger/inverter unit of the proper size for the load.
* Batteries with storage capacity for two days of the load.

Experience has shown that the system will cost
about what you'd pay for 15 - 20 Yr.s worth of utility power.

Dennis Said:

How much would it cost to build a Solar Power Plant?

We Answered:

This is a very open ended question.

It could be as little as $10. But this solar power plant would only produce enough energy to light a very small light bulb!!

It all depends on the power output of the power station. I would estimate that it would cost about 100 times what it costs to build a fossil fuel powered plant for each megawatt of power produced.

So, a 10GW (Giga Watt) oil fired power plant may cost $1billion to build, so a 10GW solar plant would cost about $100billion to build (and would probably take up 1000 times the land space required for the oil plant)

And they wonder why solar hasn't caught on yet!

Lisa Said:

I want to power my new home I am building on solar power alone what will the cost be roughly?

We Answered:

TV, lights and small appliances, yes. Washer, maybe. Dryer, not likely unless it's gas - consider a clothesline. Electric range or oven, no. Hot tub, no unless it's converted to a gas heater.

The raw panels are about $3-8 per watt. So for 6Kw figure about $18k for the panels. The charger/inverter and batteries, figure $2-3k more. Figure about $30k including the installation.

You might also consider a generator. The off-grid houses I've seen tend to have them, even if they have batteries too. Add $3k for that.

Do you have a creek? Consider small-scale hydro too.