I discovered Homepower magazine (more a journal) and within six weeks have ordered $14k worth of solar cell modules and an inverter (DC--->AC). That is strictly the cost of the 24 Siemens 100 watt modules and the inverter. I'm doing the installation myself with the per/hour only use of a licensed electrical contractor. I'll be welding my own support frames and pouring a small amount of concrete. It will be tied in with PG&E (Santa Cruz, CA) and during the day when it is out-producing my house needs, the power goes right back onto PG&E's grid (the meter literally runs backwards.) Costs: It will be a 2400 watt array and with five good peak hours of sun, generates about 10 kilowatt-hours per day (I only use about 7). Oh yeah, there is a $3/watt cash rebate from the CA Energy Commission. So my final costs, including wiring, hardware, etc. minus the rebate is about $9k. So at CURRENT cost per k-w hour of $0.11 it will take 15+ years to pay back. So I'm buying forward the next 15-20 years of electricity. Two big factors: producing the best time-value-of-money calculation and the prediction of PG&Es energy charges to me. Guess what? It's not strictly a dollars and cents calculation. The array will be displacing about 4,500 pounds of CO2 every year as well as about a pound of NOx. It has great technical appeal and from a "hobbyist" point of view is a great toy (lots of data logging assessing performance, if one is so disposed). But what is the price of being able to thumb your nose, from a position of strength, at PG&E and Enron, etc? Also, it's great to be on the leading edge of the renewable energy wave and converting energy directly from the photons of the sun. Incidentally, Homepower magazine just did an article on the TOTAL cost of solar cell module (photovoltaic modules) production to show when solar truly becomes a net generator of energy (cost of chemicals, aluminum, plastic encapsulant, etc.) It shows a net delivery in about 4 years, compared to nuclear which I believe just became a net generator about 5 years ago. -Steve Grube
matt hogan wrote:
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> Someone on this forum mentioned that solar is expensive. Well, so was the vcr,the computer, the very first televisions, and so forth. The point is that many things are expensive at first. That solar power is expensive is such a ridiculous excuse.
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> Get your small business started at Lycos Small Business at http://www.lycos.com/business/mail.html