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US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

reneweconomy.com.au

71–80 of 172 posts

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the northern states don't have much sunlight and have cheap enough power to make it not worth it.

A common misconception. Even in northern Sweden, which is above the arctic circle, you can still generate ~80% of the energy that Southern Europe generates.

It's a combination of the 80% output and the cheap local hydro power which makes it not attractive.

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#73
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

reference?

The incinerated birds are called streamers. Here's a reference. [0] [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/this-solar-plant-accidentally-i...

And then it was adjusted and no birds have died since https://cleantechnica.com/2015/04/16/one-weird-trick-prevent...

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#74
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the Australian experience, the next wave of price declines for residential solar will indeed come from balance-of-system cost declines, increased installation efficiency and lower profits. Current costs in Australia are about A$ 1.70 /pk-W (~US$1.35), pre-subsidies, split roughly into 35% modules, 10% inverter, 10% mounting system, 10% other hardware (cabling, switchboard etc), 10% installation and 25% "vend…

Most of the northern states don't have much sunlight and have cheap enough power to make it not worth it.

What about some place like California?

It has sunlight almost all year round, it has a pretty progressive government, and a leading tech sector. With house prices being so high, so the cost of solar panels would be relatively lower too.

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#75
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A common misconception. Even in northern Sweden, which is above the arctic circle, you can still generate ~80% of the energy that Southern Europe generates.

This is fascinating if true. Do you gave any sources, I'd be really interested in reading more on the matter.

This gives a good overview. What people miss is that during the summer the sun is up all the time. (In the winter, not so much.) And average cloud cover is also accounted for.

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/countries/europe/EU-Glob_op...

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#76
post #65
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in SoCal, I have to fight off door to door solar salesman at least once per month. It's really annoying.

For what it is worth I do to. It is amusing to get to tell them I already have solar at which point they look up and then walk away. But think about it... What kind of margin pays to have someone walk door to door? That is the kind of waste that the system has not yet rung out and why residential costs don't seem to be going down as much as they should. As long as all of the installers don't drive their costs down th…

That's it! I just need to install fake panels on my roof!

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The incinerated birds are called streamers. Here's a reference. [0] [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/this-solar-plant-accidentally-i...

And then it was adjusted and no birds have died since https://cleantechnica.com/2015/04/16/one-weird-trick-prevent...

The fix described in that article was for the standby position. It doesn't explain why there would be zero bird mortality when power is being generated.

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#79
post #30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation-adjusted residential costs according to nrel.gov are shown in the chart on page vi of https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/68925.pdf The raw costs, not adjusted for inflation: Q1 2014: $4.52/W total for $1.03/W modules [0] Q1 2015: $3.09/Wdc total for $0.70/Wdc modules [1] Q1 2016: $2.93/Wdc total for $0.63/Wdc modules [2] Q1 2017: $2.80/Wdc total for $0.35/Wdc modules [3] Conclusion: Even if the modules cost…

Based on the Australian experience, the next wave of price declines for residential solar will indeed come from balance-of-system cost declines, increased installation efficiency and lower profits. Current costs in Australia are about A$ 1.70 /pk-W (~US$1.35), pre-subsidies, split roughly into 35% modules, 10% inverter, 10% mounting system, 10% other hardware (cabling, switchboard etc), 10% installation and 25% "vend…

It's worth noting that in Queensland, we saw a big decline in cost after the feed-in tariff was dropped substantially in 2012, reducing demand. I paid AU$8500 for a 3kW system when I could lock in a 44c feed-in tariff, but everyone knew there was a deadline looming that wasn't changing. Once that deadline hit and it dropped to 6c, demand for installs dropped and the subsequent price dropped towards where we are now. Essnetially, panel and other equipment supply (as well as labour supply) overcame demand and the price fell as a result.

We also had the renewable energy credits scheme which made the price float about a bit since they were a traded commodity and the installer would take them off you for a price reduction proportional to their market value (if you elected to not instead keep them for yourself and pay 'full' price, but then have to sell them yourself too).

Basically what I'm saying is that there were multiple levers causing the price to float around a lot over the last 5-8 years and it's not strictly just because gradually supply/competition grew.

Re: US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year

#80
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A common misconception. Even in northern Sweden, which is above the arctic circle, you can still generate ~80% of the energy that Southern Europe generates.

This is fascinating if true. Do you gave any sources, I'd be really interested in reading more on the matter.

See the comment from bjelkeman! I don't have any "hard" sources but reserarching solar panels for myself by hanging around Swedish solar forums and noticed people way up north still get a good yield from their panels.

Most of the energy comes from ambient light, direct light is best of course but not strictly needed

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