How much for solar panels?

[Sethro]

Yeah big range of possibilities here. I'm curious if any of you have put them on your house, how much it ran, where did you source parts, and was it easy?

[al128]

are you talking PV panels or hot water ?

i have no 1st hand experience with any of them, but, me too, I am in the market for a basic set of a solar hot water system.

here`s a good starting point -

http://www.top50-solar.de/en/


some sites there even have whole books on the subject for downloads as pdf's! (if you cant find them drop me a line)

I hope we can get a good discussion going - as there seems to be some reasonably priced (around 1000bux) autosyphon systems available.

thx
al

[AndrewJ]

Solar H2O could be done for a very low cost if you're all resourceful-like. Hell, you could probably do it for nearly free if you knew where to look.

Photovoltaics will probably run you a minimum of $4400 per KW.

[al128]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Photovoltaics will probably run you a minimum of $4400 per KW.

true - hopefully things change over the next 2-5 yrs ... there´s interesting new technology out there -> "printed" solar cells

http://www.nanosolar.com


cheers
al

[Ryland]

Printed solar has been around for many many years, people have hopes that the cheap cost will out weigh the draw backs of it like it's lower efficiency, and shorter lifespan.
Spend slightly more and you can buy what is currently available and you will get a 25-30 warranty with a life span of 50+ years (real world testing starting back before the 1960's), I don't trust alot of these "printed solar" companies, because they try to wow the public with big words and vague descriptions and "secrets" but you can go to Google patents and look at their patented proses and suddenly it's not as impressive.

Solar hot water works too, if you have alot of time you can do it cheap, but stuff like this is not alwas the best thing to skimp on, if your discounted pump or sensor or pressure relive valve stops working, your hot water panel can turn that water to steam in a matter of minutes and send boiling water spraying causing damage or burning anyone that is close to it.

If you want to do this, check out Home Power Magazine, get their CD of back issues, read their solar hot water buyers guide.

If you want cheap easy solar hot water lay a dark hose in your driveway.

[LostCause]

I seek efficiency, so personally I would opt for the highest energy density (kW/area) solar panels available and mount them on a two axis solar tracker. At the moment, I believe SunPower produces the most efficient consumer solar panels (~20+% efficient).

I'm not sure on the true cost of solar, as many local/state governments offer a substantial rebate. If you heavily conserve and install yourself, I would estimate $15,000 would be a reasonable budget for a very modest, but adequate installation.

Solar Tracker


- LostCause

[}{ead$hot Zod]

Have you looked into any of the bi-facial panels?

[Ryland]

by bi-facial I assume you mean the ones that can absorb light on the shady side? they are basically a gimic, the best way to get the most power from pv is to point it at the sun and get the most light on it, so unless you are reflecting light at the back side of your panels, then it's not worth the extra cost, and if you can reflect light at the back side, then turn them around and reflect twice as much light at that side! you if you keep them cool enough you can double their output when you double the light hitting the serfice.
The estamet chart gives a price range of $8 to $17 per watt for an installed system, this price will of course be dependent on where you are, how much shade you get, how easy it is to install the system, if your system is going to have batteries or be grid inter tie without batteries, if you have a tracker or a fixed mount, and it's the kind of thing that you often save money and have it work best if someone who is familer with solar design your system and tell you where to put it, people making poorly informed choices is how renewable energy got a bad name in the '70's, please learn from our past.

[rmay635703]

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nels-5754.html

Important to note that you make them out of junk you have laying around and make them yourself

[Ryland]

Talked to a guy a while back who worked as a consultant to nanosolar, he said "don't get your hopes up" and he is a very hopeful kind of guy, after looking at what's around and avalible, the standard tec that has been avalible for the last 50 years still seems like a good idea, it will last, it will pay for it's self, it's one of the most durable products out there, it's laminated safty glass that has the solar cell in the center.

$5 per watt is common/reasonable, just for the PV, $11-14 is common for a full, installed price with the rest of the system.