How much a solar energy system might cost?
Posted 21st-August-2010 at 09:32 AM by rripley
In this day and age the renewable energy industry is very much alive. Much has been blame to the rise in cost of any commercial solar panels, solar chargers, solar inverters, and installation for a simple solar energy system to be out of reach. The true reason why solar energy products are so high is not because it’s a high tech product but rather the cost of producing it.
Most of us, the public at large, tend to forget that to produce a single kilo of raw material that makes up a solar panel is really expensive. This material is also the same material that is used to make computer chips. Yes that’s right a 'computer chip'.
I will not go into too much detail of what the process of these materials, but I can give you an idea of how much it cost. The market value of this material is not cheap, it cost about $550 (conservative figure) a kilo back before the financial crisis around March of 2008. Now it’s so low the market price for this commodity is at $150 per kilo and projections show it will go below $100 in 2011.
The cost to produce one panel dependent on size, also contributes to the cost. Now the price of producing one panel of a standard size, and before the added cost of shipping and other extra cost, comes up around $125 (really conservative price).
After all its massed produce and quality checked and that’s another cost to add on. I estimate that a really efficient solar panel would now cost $225. To make things simpler I will add in alot of other stuff to the panel and the extra things that is needed to go in conjunction with the panels.
The real cost of producing one efficient panel is around $225 to $300. That’s it!
Now here’s the real reason why a solar home energy system might cost alot, it is the added equipment and battery storage. The components range from a simple $350 to $10,000 on low to middle end. This is the real reason why it’s expensive its added features give the solar energy system out of reach from the public.
There are some might argue that the cost of producing electricity cost per watt, they are correct in one aspect, but the affordability to the average American household is out of reach. This is just my opinion on this so just give my points to ponder.
Most of us, the public at large, tend to forget that to produce a single kilo of raw material that makes up a solar panel is really expensive. This material is also the same material that is used to make computer chips. Yes that’s right a 'computer chip'.
I will not go into too much detail of what the process of these materials, but I can give you an idea of how much it cost. The market value of this material is not cheap, it cost about $550 (conservative figure) a kilo back before the financial crisis around March of 2008. Now it’s so low the market price for this commodity is at $150 per kilo and projections show it will go below $100 in 2011.
The cost to produce one panel dependent on size, also contributes to the cost. Now the price of producing one panel of a standard size, and before the added cost of shipping and other extra cost, comes up around $125 (really conservative price).
After all its massed produce and quality checked and that’s another cost to add on. I estimate that a really efficient solar panel would now cost $225. To make things simpler I will add in alot of other stuff to the panel and the extra things that is needed to go in conjunction with the panels.
The real cost of producing one efficient panel is around $225 to $300. That’s it!
Now here’s the real reason why a solar home energy system might cost alot, it is the added equipment and battery storage. The components range from a simple $350 to $10,000 on low to middle end. This is the real reason why it’s expensive its added features give the solar energy system out of reach from the public.
There are some might argue that the cost of producing electricity cost per watt, they are correct in one aspect, but the affordability to the average American household is out of reach. This is just my opinion on this so just give my points to ponder.
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