Solar Panel Pricing Outlook
For consumers seeking to save energy dollars by installing a solar energy system in their homes, price 00004000 s in the solar market are 'sunny side up.' Costs have fallen in the solar market for both raw materials and the finished product.
Probably the greatest challenge facing the consumer is financing. Restricted lending practices have hurt sales due to the fact the budgets of most consumers are unable to afford solar systems including solar inverter without obtaining outside financing.
Investors are challenged as well. Due to the tight credit and the fear of a continued recession, various stocks in the solar market have taken upwards of a 50% hit over the past year for the prominent companies, and 60% for solar companies offering less dominant stock. New opportunities may be dawning, however, as indicators seem to point to loosening credit restrictions for solar projects as global governments seek to stimulate the industry.
Supply and demand plays a large part in the solar market. A seasonal dip in sales serves to create a stockpile of panels, which then help to lower prices for consumers. In addition, technology is rapidly changing regarding the manufacturing of newer forms of solar panels; forcing retailers to accept reduced profit margins in an effort to find consumers willing to purchase the discontinued models. This serves to offer consumers on a tight budget a greater selection of products like a solar inverter.
Reduced prices also have an effect on a company's ability to compete and stay in business. When prices are drastically cut to attract consumers, larger companies with decent financial stability stand a better chance of weathering the downturn than do smaller companies just entering the solar market. Thus, large established German companies have less to fear than do younger Chinese companies.
Currently large European banks are beginning to fund the installation of both rooftop and ground installations in Germany, Europe's largest solar market. Expectations seem to indicate the rest of Europe will begin to follow suit in the months to come, due to the lifting of restrictions on investment capital. Those seeking to invest in the current solar market would do well to look for companies with connections in Germany's market especially those who manufacture solar inverter.
In the United States, Congress has offered incentives to encourage Americans in upgrading to solar. Buyers are offered a 30% refund on their federal tax return on the new installation's value. State incentives may also apply. As an example of how this can benefit the buyer - for each 0 spent on a solar system in North Carolina, the final cost will only be (30% federal refund - + 35% state credit - ). There is presently no cap on the federal incentives and only one stipulation; in order to qualify, the project must be completed before 2017. Congress has set aside billion to guarantee loans in order to encourage banks to offer loans to consumers to finance renewable projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
QUESTION:
did anyone heard about israel solar edge converter? Sun tech or Trina solar panels?
Im in a process of putting solar panels of about 50 kwp on top of my roof. i have to decide between Trina solar to Sun-tech for the panels, and german SMA or the israeli Solar Edge for the converters.
is anyone knows the different between those choices? i really need some help here ASAP!!
thank you all.-
ANSWER:
Suntech is either the largest or second largest manufacturer of solar panels in the world. With the volumes they ship, if there was a quality problem, we would have heard about it. Trina is much smaller, and I have heard nothing bad or good about them.SMA has been around for years, and is proven. I'm not familiar with Solar Edge.
50 kw is a large system unless this is an industrial building. Hopefully, you are working with a solar company, and they just offered you a choice of panels? This is not the type of thing that most people, myself included, would DIY.
-
-
QUESTION:
Should we have listened to Jimmy Carter and tried to lessen our dependence of oil and move toward more?
sustainable energy sources in the 1970's?Carter started and ethanol program which Reagan promptly stopped after Carter's defeat. Reagan, to make a statement about which direction we would go, removed the solar panels from the White House roof when elected.
More intelligent societies like German who refuse to be lead my the nose by their corporate masters are light years ahead of us in solar technology.
If we don't wake up, we will be using solar and wind technology purchased from the Chinese.
Most Americans aren't smart enough to realize that we are sacrificing our future, our economy and our environment for the sake of oil companies.
-
ANSWER:
Ethanol costs more than twice what gasoline does and causes food prices to rise because there being depleted for fuel. What we should do is tap our own vast resources of oil which is several times that of the middle east. Solar panels are a joke at best they are a supplemental energy source.
-
-
QUESTION:
The Guardian asks: Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off?
The Guardian has a revealing article on the insanity of trying to cut back on carbon emissions by circumventing the free market and ignoring nuclear power in favour of solar. It quotes a McKinsey report that finds that to save a ton of carbon emissions by nuclear power costs £8, Geothermal £3 which it contrast with solar power's cost of £430 per tonne of carbon saved!But it gets worse. Here's the truly insane bit:
----------------------------------------
"" the German government made the same mistake 10 years ago. By 2006 its generous feed-in tariffs had stimulated 230,000 solar roofs, at a cost of €1.2bn. Their total contribution to the country's electricity supply was 0.4%. Their total contribution to carbon savings, as a paper in the journal Energy Policy points out, is zero. This is because Germany, like the UK, belongs to the European emissions trading scheme. Any savings made by feed-in tariffs permit other industries to raise their emissions""
-----------------------------------~ and as the article points out:
-----------------------------
"" It can't be long before thousands of petty criminals discover the perfect carousel fraud, bypassing their solar panels by connecting the incoming wire to the outgoing wire. By buying electricity for 7p and selling it for 44p (if you sell power to the grid rather than using it yourself, you get an extra 3p), they'll make a 600% profit. Amazingly the government has decided not to measure how much electricity people are selling.""
----------------------------------
.
So how would you answer the Guardian's question?Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/01/solar-panel-feed-in-tariff
.-
ANSWER:
I completely agree with George Monbiot.I'm doing research in solar power, and I think the government are _insane_, I don't know what idiot thought this was a good idea.
It's so predictable. There's going to be a backlash because using current generation silicon solar panels in the UK is a bad idea. People will assume all solar is worthless and there will be a backlash which will be a public relations disaster for legitimate power sources.
For example: the subsidy may be £430/ton CO2 saved in the UK, but that's because residential solar panels cost about £5-6k / kWp. Thin film power stations like Waldpolenz cost about £3k/kWp back in 2007, and prices have fallen since (iirc FirstSolar have cut costs by about 20% since then). Additionally, panels in California produce about 2.4 times the power of panels in the UK because it's sunnier. Using thin film tech in California is already 80% cheaper per kWh than the tech the UK government are pushing.
UK residents will be paid 44.3p/kWh with 41.3p subsidy. Ignoring interest etc, 80% cheaper means that you could get the same power in California for 8.86p/kWh - lower than the grid price (but assuming 3p/kWh wholesale, that's still just a 5.86p subsidy, ie 85% lower than the UK gov't are coughing up)
Ichbas: George Monbiot is one of the most scientifically astute journalists in the UK. I expect he understands how solar works (he's spent years researching green stuff and usually gets pretty close to correct), but he often simplifies for the newspaper audience.
-
-
QUESTION:
Where is an entrepreneur who will import solar powered motor bikes to SA?
I have found a very interesting scooter: (Unfortunately it is all in german)http://www.solarserver.de/store/kategorie.kategorie-35.html
It is powered by electricity gained from a solar panel installed in the garden or yard. This panel can produce up to 250-280kWh Electriciy per year, that would be enough for about 10 000 km environment friendly riding
Surely this would beat the power and fuel problems in SA: And stealing such a bike would not bring a thief far unless he has a supply of elctricty for it.
A tip for potential trolls: This is not meant as solicitation!!
-
ANSWER:
I read an article some time ago that compared the price of the solar panels and the power saving over the life of the panels. It financially balanced out. But the obvious advantages are to the environment.I believe the panels only last between 8-10 years.
-