Solar Panels Reach $1 a Watt

ZosX writes "An article over at Popular Mechanics announces that, for the first time, solar cells have been manufactured for the much sought-after figure of $1/Watt. They also talk about a new study of the cost of the particular raw materials used in different manufacturing processes. The conclusion is that the company that just achieved the $1/W milestone, using cadmium telluride technology, may not prove to be the long-term winner capable of meeting demand when it rises into the terawatt range."

Comments

Wow

[Junior J. Junior III]

I'm not sure what my peak load is at home, but at $1/Watt I imagine I could generate all my own electricity for less than $10,000. Assuming my roof has sufficient room for it, that's really awesome. My current electric bill is around $65/mo. which means that in 153 months this would be paying for itself, or about 12 years. Of course, figuring in things like maintenance, repairs, and so forth makes this harder to gauge, but that's pretty good. Now the consumer electronics industry just needs to convert everything over to run on DC and I'm all set. How soon can I put in an order?

Re:Wow

[Ex-MislTech]

To plug into the grid you need a Synchronous Inverter.

You are not suppose to dump square wave on the grid either.

Some guerilla solar ppl who do not understand this do it anyways.

The grid uses generators that generate sinewave power.

To connect cleanly and correctly you need a Sinewave based
Synchronous Inverter and that is not cheap.

Also if you live in a heavy lightning storm area then you run
the risk of your huge investment going up in smoke by being
attached to the grid.

Your best bet is to get off the grid.

Some ppl do it a little at a time by converting all their lights
to LED lighting and have wind and or solar charging some used
forklift batteries that are stored outside in a fireproof box.

forklift batteries are not the best, but used ones are cheaper
by a huge amount than the very best made new for this purpose.

Over time as they get more of their own power made they can
move circuits over to the off grid system.

The killers are central heat and air, electric dryer, fridge,
hair dryers, vacuums, electric ovens, and microwaves.

Re:Wow

[Firethorn]

Found a better one, lists that capability as standard:

http://www.infinigi.com/beacon-power-m5-inverter-5-kw-gridtied-battery-backup-p-104.html?ref=100

Only 5kw though. At $5k, it'd take 4 years of eliminating my electric bill to pay for the inverter alone, much less solar cells, wind turbine, or install.

By my back of hand figuring on the basis of using ~1000kwh a month, I'd need a 4-5kw inverter anyways.
1000kwh/month = 33kwh/day, 1.4 kwh/hour, 1400 watts average load. Times 3 for rough guess on usable/production periods vs max, 4.2kw minimum load needed. BTW, my water heater/stove/dryer are all electric, but heat is propane. I pay ~.10 cents per kwh, decreasing if I use a lot.

TCO

[phantomfive]

Here's something for you, that I didn't realize: apparently it costs MORE to install and set up a set of solar panels on your home than it does to manufacture them. It made me think, "wow, I'm going to install those myself for half the price!" but attaching stuff like that to the power grid is probably not a DIY project. And it isn't just a day labor job either. It's going to take a trained electrician, at $30-$60 an hour putting that stuff in.

So, their goal is to get the cost of manufacturing down to about 60-70 cents a watt, and the cost of installation down to $1 a watt. I didn't realize the hidden cost of installation was so high.