Is residential solar power technology mature enough to purchase?
What is the likelihood that solar panel technology will improve drastically in the near future such that current solar panel technology will be completely obsolete before 10 years time?
The reason for my question is as follows:
I’m thinking about buying 10kw microfit solar panels for my home, but they cost a whopping k+ Canadian dollars. If I connect to the power grid and sell back to the government, they pay me 80 cents per kwh, which means the system pays for itself after 10 years. I feel that 10 years before ROI is a long time unless advances in solar technology have tapered off, which means buying today’s solar panels would cost the same as buying solar panels 10 years from now.
Tagged with: 10 years • canadian dollars • kwh • likelihood • long time • power grid • solar panel • solar panels • solar technology
Filed under: Solar Panel Questions And Additional Information
My friend installed 18 months ago a 7Kw (of 33 Sharp panels) system for $43K USD ($50K Canadian?). Don’t feel bad about long payback. He is 68 and won’t see the return, probably. And he is prevented from selling back power to the grid, as it is a corporation, not government owned. They don’t want his excess power at any price. And even though he has minimal electric usage (nights and clouds), he is still charged the distribution fee and a minimum usage fee every month.
Future panel tech may lead to "printed" panels of exotic inks rather than "grown" crystal ones. That might cut the cost per Kw to 10% of today’s.
Looking at the price-history of solar panels, I would estimate that the price per KW in 5 years will be approximately one-half of today’s cost, due to the production efficiencies of increased manufacturing volume.
Of course, the government incentive for panels purchased 5 years from now, may very well be 40 cents per kwh, to maintain the 10-year payback period.
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cost payback for solar is complicated but in general solar is a very expensive way to generate electricity
UNLESS cheaper forms are not available due to location or if the undesirable environmental costs are included
the goal is to get thin film mass produced solar cells. the current method is very expensive
there is also the cost of storing energy , batteries etc for "dark times"
I like solar but it is NOT economical yet
solar mirror heat generators show promise for industrial mega watt scale systems
Coal and oil are cheapest IF you do not count the cost, the Gulf oil spill will cost tens or hundreds of billions $