http://www.mercurynews.com//ci_8322400 Any bets this guys is on the take by fossil fuels and moonlights at CNW marketing?
I'll bet Borensen would rather have the money go to him for research than to the public for rebates for solar installation. Too late. Already got mine. They'll pay for themselves in a few years. Faster as the cost of electricity goes up. And after they've paid for themselves....my elec. bill will still be zero.
Strickly up front dollars and cents with no consideration of environmental costs of grid power, Pv MAY be a "loser. With targeted subsidies it CAN make great economic sense, and certainly makes environmental sense. Complain all you want about subsidies, even taking out the transparent subsidies for fossil fuel, the hidden environmental cost is huge! That is not even taking into account the $1 Trillion subsidy the Iraq war has cost. Think of how much we could have developed RE if we had spent a fraction of that $$ on subsidy and R&D. As Gov. Nepalotano of AZ said recently, ~600 barrels of oil fall per year on a area the size of a basketball court in AZ. Even with panel efficiency of ~15% there are a hell of a lot of basketball courts in AZ (and everywhere else)! It's time to get real and face this issue like adults! Elect leader who genuinely believe in getting climate change and Petro mess on the platform, and have the strength to bring it forward! Icarus Obama '08
As part of his analysis he stated that the cost of a typical system was $86-$91K. I'm not sure what he defined as typical, but that is REALLY high. I would think that something around 2.5kW would be considered typical and with no subsidies at all a system like that is well below his cost range. Maybe he's using an off-grid set-up, which, frankly, makes no sense in most cases. That's the only way I can see him getting costs that high for a "typical" system.
I've got a 2.5 system. Cost was a little under $25,000. About $14,000 after the state and federal rebates.
I have a 5KW system, got it for $50K. I think rebates are expected to knock it down to $32K or thereabouts.
Exactly. The typical cost is somewhere around $9/Watt installed. So his numbers seem really high... or he's talking off-grid, which seem disinginuous since most installations are inter-tie systems. Furthermore, it seems that economies of scale will make solar a bit cheaper of the next couple of years. At the same time, technological innovation is whittling away at the cost. He seems to be and enemy of the good. We don't need a major technological breakthrough before we can go forward. Hell, he readily admits that changes to the way utilities charge for power (coming to CA in 2012) will make solar more economically feasible. That has nothing to do with solar technological innovation. It's essentially a policy move.
No, however, we're still talking around $50K for a typical system size (2.5KW) and therefore almost half of what that individual called the going price for a typical system, no?
Typical grid tie system runs~$8-10/watt. The hardware alone is ~$5-6/watt. If you do some or all yourself it gets cheaper. Stand alone (off grid) can be almost as cheap, depending on the inverter/battery configuration. My system is only .22kw, but it provides all the power we need in a normal day. (off grid) I did design the system NOT to include the largest short term loads like power tools. I use the generator for that. A critical consideration, especially in off grid, is sizing. Finding the balance point between needs (or perceived needs) and cost. Tripling the size of my system to run the table saw makes no sense when the generator and the fuel required to run it is much cheaper by comparison. Icarus
Also, the batteries have to be replaced periodically so there are some substantial ongoing costs associated with the system. In CO your subsidies are reduced by 60% with an off-grid system because you don't get $2.50/Watt from the utility. You still get $2.00/Watt from the State, I think.
