Low Cost Solar Panels

Location to residential areas: They could be built on the same location to replace conventional coal and oil power plants. Nuclear plants don’t not pollute the local air.
Terrorist attack: Unlikely- they were designed during the cold war to withstand nuclear missile attacks.
Nuclear waste disposal: U.S. has plenty of unpopulated areas for this. Not the greatest solution, but better than having Florida underwater in a few hundred years due to global warming.
Electromagnetic radiation: no more that current elctric power plants.

Solar and wind energy are not feasable since neither would provide suffieceint power to heat your home and drive your car. With Nulcear both would go electric.

Let me preface this with I LIKE green generation and promote it.

But, I power up 20% of Virginia from nuclear powered generation. We operate as base load plants. That means we are always at 100% power. Why? Because even with the cost of all the regulatory required oversight, training and licensing, engineering and security measures; we are simply the Lowest cost producer of electricity in the industry. Yes, this includes the cost of storage for our waste fuel. One day the Federal government will make excellent on the promise of a final storage place and our cost per Mega Watt Hour will go down even further.
(P.S. there is no such thing as super heated water…its steam and we don’t release it, some places may evaporate a lot of water in cooling towers but it comes right back when it rains)

Recap:
Nuclear plants cost less to operate than fossil plants.
Nuclear plants cost less to build (per unit of electricity generated) than renewable sources of the same capacity such as solar or wind.
Nuclear plants can produce much larger amounts of generation in the same environmental area as a wind farm/solar plant.
Nuclear plants have higher capacity factors (more likely to be making electricity) than most other plants.
Nuclear plants do not affect the environment around them such as some hydro power networks.
Waste nuclear fuel storage has a smaller footprint than your trash, is less hazardous than your medical waste, and once in its final resting place can never be more perilous than a huge hunk of hot steel.

This question is based on residential models currently generating income for average citizens that install solar panel on their homes. In countries such as Germany and the USA their citizens also receive rebates on the initial buy. The average buy before rebate will cost $6000.00 to $16000.00 for 25yrs to 35yrs guaranteed equipment performance installed. The reversible power meter system works very well. The resident not only gets their electric bill paid for but sells the surplus back to the grid for a profit as I feel we all should be taught this business practice and have the right to do so. The corporations that have profited of this industry have not kept prices down nor health standards up. It is note worthy that this program has not place any companies out of business as well as puts money back in the pockets of local communities. I should mention that the health benefits and the carbon credits will also add to the entire nations wealth. Please no corporate propaganda.

Currently the Australian government will contribute $8000 toward the cost a new 1 Kilowatt solar system. Most energy companies will also contribute a few hundred dollars (maybe $600) for Renewable Energy Credits (Rec’s). (Conditions apply. mainly Panels must be new and you need to use a licenced solar installer)

I recently received quotes for about $6500 for a 1 kilowatt system. (fully installed) This would also save me in the order of $280 /year in reduced power bills.

There needs to be another meter added so the energy company can prove the renewable energy source. You can really be paid if you generate more than you use. Most homes would need a 2-3 KW system to provide surplus power.

I agree that there is profiteering going on. I can buy 1 KW of solar panels, new for less than $8000 and an inverter for less than $2000. I’m also a qualified electrician with plenty of experience with solar panels. I can’t get the rebate since I am not a licenced "solar installer."

I can also tell you that the installed price in April was $7500 (before the rebate double to $8000)

If the government were to relax the rules of compliance and simply allow meters to spin backwards, the cost of installation would drop dramatically. Probably enable an off the shelf package to be developed that could be installed in a few minutes by even a restricted electrical licence holder.

The larger companies would not be in complete control then, would they ?

Anyway if your interested here is a link to the current programme. There is a link to installers on this site also.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/renewable/pv/index.html

I’m hanging out to see if I can get a better deal, after November. Both sides seem suddenly interested in the environment recently, wonder why.

(Queensland by the way)

This question is based on residential models currently generating income for average citizens that install solar panel on their homes. In countries such as Germany and the USA their citizens also receive rebates on the initial buy. The average buy before rebate will cost $6000.00 to $16000.00 for 25yrs to 35yrs guaranteed equipment performance installed. The reversible power meter system works very well. The resident not only gets their electric bill paid for but sells the surplus back to the grid for a profit as I feel we all should be taught this business practice and have the right to do so. The corporations that have profited of this industry have not kept prices down nor health standards up. It is note worthy that this program has not place any companies out of business as well as puts money back in the pockets of local communities. I should mention that the health benefits and the carbon credits will also add to the entire nations wealth. Please no corporate propaganda.

Currently the Australian government will contribute $8000 toward the cost a new 1 Kilowatt solar system. Most energy companies will also contribute a few hundred dollars (maybe $600) for Renewable Energy Credits (Rec’s). (Conditions apply. mainly Panels must be new and you need to use a licenced solar installer)

I recently received quotes for about $6500 for a 1 kilowatt system. (fully installed) This would also save me in the order of $280 /year in reduced power bills.

There needs to be another meter added so the energy company can prove the renewable energy source. You can really be paid if you generate more than you use. Most homes would need a 2-3 KW system to provide surplus power.

I agree that there is profiteering going on. I can buy 1 KW of solar panels, new for less than $8000 and an inverter for less than $2000. I’m also a qualified electrician with plenty of experience with solar panels. I can’t get the rebate since I am not a licenced "solar installer."

I can also tell you that the installed price in April was $7500 (before the rebate double to $8000)

If the government were to relax the rules of compliance and simply allow meters to spin backwards, the cost of installation would drop dramatically. Probably enable an off the shelf package to be developed that could be installed in a few minutes by even a restricted electrical licence holder.

The larger companies would not be in complete control then, would they ?

Anyway if your interested here is a link to the current programme. There is a link to installers on this site also.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/renewable/pv/index.html

I’m hanging out to see if I can get a better deal, after November. Both sides seem suddenly interested in the environment recently, wonder why.

(Queensland by the way)

I am doing solar panels so I can have electric for the entire house. I want to convert the gas heater for my pool to an electrical heater. But they don’t have it for residential. Will the heat pump work well here in Southern California?

I hope you are getting the largest solar system you can afford. I did, and am eternally grateful. As you can imagine, the cost per kW of generating capacity goes down as the size goes up.

For a heat pump, you could consider the type of system usually installed for ground source. Some of these depend on water from the ground, pumped through a heat exchanger. In your case, you could use the pool water., circulating it past the heat exchanger, and back to the pool. You could arrange it so the "waste" cold is sent outdoors when you don’t want to cool the house, and to the house on hot days. If there are winter periods when you do not want to heat the pool,, you could have the heat pump draw heat from the pool, for heating the house.

Of course you could use a resistance heater for the pool, but it would be two or three times less efficient. You can buy pretty huge inline spa heaters. They are on the Internet.

In Canada it can be very hard for a residential property owner to get any kind of financial help from the government to install a solar electric system. Why dont the companies that offer these products run promotional campaigns and write the losses off in thier taxes? It seems to me that most people want to get PV panels but have a hard time affording them, and it would be in a companies best interest to cater to the market in any way they can. So basically when you buy a solar energy system, the company selling it to you would give you a large discount and then have the accounting team do the legwork.

I know of one company that does.

Also some companies will try to get you financing through a bank but this is not a common practice in Canada yet.

This would be for a residential area and need to comply to fire and other safety regulations. I want to generate electric power for home and electric vehicles.

You’re asking a hard question only because the technology is improving each month. What is the best today probably won’t be the best next year. For wind power you will need a wind availibility survey describing the average wind conditions throughout the year for your locality. Every homesite is a bit different. To establish a cost/benefit analysis your first have to know how much wind energy is available.

During the oil embargo years during the 1980’s, the State of California required all new residential buildings to install Solar hot water heating systems. Hot Water costs a family of 4 an avg of $55/month according to Sempra Energy. With the current federal tax credits it pays for itself in just 2-3 years, so why not require it on all new residential construction across the U.S.?

Solar Electric (Photovolataics) has come down in price to the point where it can pay for itself in just 10 years(or less) in desert areas like Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico & large parts of Texas where summer cooling bills are outrageous. Why not require it on all new construction?

With long term(10+ yr) Sallie Mae loans Solar Electric can really pay for itself from the start when you factor in Federal Tax Credits and State(like California) or Utility Company(like Nevada) incentives. Why not require it & give property owners Govt secured, long term low interest loans to pay for it?

There are a few reasons why this has not been mandated. First, as the previous answerer said, solar power is not feasible everywhere. It works well in southern California, because it is very sunny and energy needs are moderate due to very mild temperatures. It would probably not work in Seattle, Washington, where it rains very frequently and is cloudy much of the time. It might also be a poor choice in North Dakota, where scorching summer heat and crippling winter blizzards place a huge strain on the energy grid.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this is America. Technology and industry are theoretically independent of the government. It’s right that the government sponsors research and subsidizes corporations, but individuals ultimately have the freedom to choose what they want to invent and what inventions they want to use. Each person who builds a house has the right to choose how to build it, and each person who buys a house has the right to choose what kind of home they want to live in. A builder who wants to appeal to environmentally concscious homeowners will build a home that takes advantage of alternative energy sources. If solar power technology becomes more and more sophisticated, more efficient, and less expensive, everyone will want it in their own home, and it won’t have to be mandated. If it isn’t appealing enough for people to choose it on their own, the government shouldn’t force them to do it.

Want to consider going solar for my home but ideally I don’t like the large hideous panels that I’ve seen. Is their newer technology for solar for residential homes?

Solar panes will blend well with your architecture if they are considered when the house is designed. If the broad side of the roof is on the south side at the proper angle they don’t look so obtrusive. When they are mounted on stilts at an odd angle to the roof they look silly.

how much do you reckon it would cost for installation?
i heard that solar panels can store electricity and any excess electricity gets sold back to the electric company. how much money can a home owner make from doing this?
do you reckon solar panels are worth it?

If you’re in a sunny area, and the cost of electricity is high, solar panels can be worth it. But it’s not a huge moneymaker, it’s something that pays back over long timeframes. We live in northern California, and our system is about break even, but that’s because our electricity usage was low to start with. If you want to see our system, look at the web page in my profile.

Are panels worth it in your area? The only way to know for sure is to find a local installer in your phone book, and then question for local references. If you can’t find a local installer, that’s a clue, and if they can’t give you any references that are nearby, that’s another clue.

The panels don’t really store energy, the energy is sold back to the power company when what you produce is more than you consume, driving the meter backwards. Again, this is not a huge moneymaker, and in fact, it may be impossible to make a profit, depending on your local laws.

I am as green lov’n as the next guy but can a solar panel system pay for itself in <10 years in Boston area even if electric rates increase 3% per year?

No. Not enough sunlight to be practical or cost effective. Wind generator might work better there.