Slow day so I was looking at Solar panel prices

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

... and nothing really new as far as prices go but the wattages for solar panels have really increased.. The last time I looked they maxed out at 250, now the max out at 310. Not very long about they maxed out at 210 so a 30% increase in performance in just a few years is pretty good. Another nice thing is that the price per watt no longer goes up with a panels efficiency - those 310 watt panels can be had for a little under $1 per watt.

The number of companies stayed about the same.. This is list is for companies *currently* with Solar panels for sale in the US and the country (or countries) of manufacture..

Before anyone corrects me: Yes CanadianSolar and Solarland USA are both Chinese.

Astroenergy - Taiwan (310 Watts Max - offering the best price per watt right now)

Solarworld - USA (265 Watts Max - moderately competitive)

Towards Excellence - China (250 watts max - not competitive)

Eoplly - China (190 Watts max - not competitive or pronounceable)

Kyrocera - Japan, Mexico, USA (245 Watts max, expensive - sad they used to be #1)

LG - Korea (300 Watts max - moderately competitive)

Solarland USA - China (100 Watts Max, very expensive)

Sharp - USA (250 Watts Max, moderately competitive)

Suniva - USA (270 Watts Max, moderately competitive)

Panasonic - Japan, Mexico, Germany, USA (240 Watts Max, very expensive)

AUO - Taiwan (250 Watts Max, no price given)

CanadianSolar - China (235 Watts Max, no prices given, built for cooler and heavy snow climates)

EcoSolergy - China (225 Watts Max, no prices given)

Hyndai - Korea (240 Max, no prices given)

Companies not currently offering panels wholesale but have recently and may do so again:

BP solar (USA, China, India)

UPG (China)

Westinghouse Solar (USA)

Yingli Solar (China)

Trina Solar (China)

Solon (USA, Germany) - the company motto "Don't leave the planet to the stupid"

Suntech (China)

Samsung (Korea)

Ritek (Taiwan)

REC (Norway, Singapore, USA)

Schott Solar (USA)

Mitsubishi (Japan)

Evergreen Solar (USA, China)

Power Up (China)

Kaneka(Japan, USA, Belgium)

Sunwize (China)

Right now it looks to me based on price and efficiency: Go Astroenergy or go home...

Edited January 23, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[luckytxn 2,265]

You say 1$ watt. How does that compare to other sources?

... and nothing really new as far as prices go but the wattages for solar panels have really increased.. The last time I looked they maxed out at 250, now the max out at 310. Not very long about they maxed out at 210 so a 30% increase in performance in just a few years is pretty good. Another nice thing is that the price per watt no longer goes up with a panels efficiency - those 310 watt panels can be had for a little under $1 per watt.

The number of companies stayed about the same.. This is list is for companies *currently* with Solar panels for sale in the US and the country (or countries) of manufacture..

Before anyone corrects me: Yes CanadianSolar and Solarland USA are both Chinese.

Astroenergy - Taiwan (310 Watts Max - offering the best price per watt right now)

Solarworld - USA (265 Watts Max - moderately competitive)

Towards Excellence - China (250 watts max - not competitive)

Eoplly - China (190 Watts max - not competitive or pronounceable)

Kyrocera - Japan, Mexico, USA (245 Watts max, expensive - sad they used to be #1)

LG - Korea (300 Watts max - moderately competitive)

Solarland USA - China (100 Watts Max, very expensive)

Sharp - USA (250 Watts Max, moderately competitive)

Suniva - USA (270 Watts Max, moderately competitive)

Panasonic - Japan, Mexico, Germany, USA (240 Watts Max, very expensive)

AUO - Taiwan (250 Watts Max, no price given)

CanadianSolar - China (235 Watts Max, no prices given, built for cooler and heavy snow climates)

EcoSolergy - China (225 Watts Max, no prices given)

Hyndai - Korea (240 Max, no prices given)

Companies not currently offering panels wholesale but have recently and may do so again:

BP solar (USA, China, India)

UPG (China)

Westinghouse Solar (USA)

Yingli Solar (China)

Trina Solar (China)

Solon (USA, Germany) - the company motto "Don't leave the planet to the stupid"

Suntech (China)

Samsung (Korea)

Ritek (Taiwan)

REC (Norway, Singapore, USA)

Schott Solar (USA)

Mitsubishi (Japan)

Evergreen Solar (USA, China)

Power Up (China)

Kaneka(Japan, USA, Belgium)

Sunwize (China)

Right now it looks to me based on price and efficiency: Go Astroenergy or go home...

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

You say 1$ watt. How does that compare to other sources?

$1 a watt for a complete (grid-tie with no batteries) installation has been somewhat of a holy grail, My post was talking only for the panels, there needs to be another 40% drop in price or so to get to $1/watt installation. I'm only looking at small scale, large scale there still is a long way to go to be price competitive.

So say I could install on my house at $1 a watt.. I have a fairly "normal" house 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 people. My electrical usage runs from as low as 800KWH in the spring/fall to a high of just under 2500KWH in the summer (I have electrical cooling and gas heat).. So if I wanted to install a system that produced enough electricity to offset what I use in an entire year I would probably need in the neighborhood of a 7000 Watt system.

My electrical bills run from $35.00 to $160.00 - The yearly total being at just under $1000 (my state has about the lowest rates you will find, we generate 80% of our electricity from renewable resources - in 1995 we had a full year of 100% renewable resource generation but then the Californians invaded and we could not build more damns so up went the natural gas generators)

So! If I could build a 7000 watt system for 7000 dollars I would not longer be paying for electricity.. Figure the electricity will flow free for the next 20 years I could borrow that 7000 over 20 years and that would be my new electrical bill... There are currently incentives (tax wise) from my state and utility so I could probably get about 30% of that money back.

A couple of caveats: Utilities are getting laws changed so they can charge those with solar setups for simply being on the grid.. Also grid tie systems count on the fact that you overproduce in the day and feed power into the system (so your neighbors get your excess power while your meter runs backward) and then average out at night when solar does not produce power. Utilities are starting to work on removing/reducing this advantage as well... So in the scenario above I could install my full system and then get a $20 monthly service fee from the power company and charged for usage at night negating much of the savings.

Edited January 24, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

To me US solar is a waste of time. Unless I have something to power my house when the local grid is down I am not wasting my money. Us law currently restricts this if you are tied to the grid

[kev_n_jena 89]

To me US solar is a waste of time. Unless I have something to power my house when the local grid is down I am not wasting my money. Us law currently restricts this if you are tied to the grid

US law? Do you have a link? For some reason I thought the laws varied from state to state. I also thought power companies had different policies regarding automatic disconnect when using solar, wind etc.

As far as solar goes, with electric prices under 4 cents per kwh where I'm at, a system would never pay for itself.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Thanks. I am looking at buying more land and housing to rent out. In a few years I plan on building a house for my retirement and will be looking at the options. I will check into this. As for right now it seems folly to go this route because by the time you get it all set up they will come back with better and cheaper so why buy now?

Thanks for the info.

$1 a watt for a complete (grid-tie with no batteries) installation has been somewhat of a holy grail, My post was talking only for the panels, there needs to be another 40% drop in price or so to get to $1/watt installation. I'm only looking at small scale, large scale there still is a long way to go to be price competitive.

So say I could install on my house at $1 a watt.. I have a fairly "normal" house 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 people. My electrical usage runs from as low as 800KWH in the spring/fall to a high of just under 2500KWH in the summer (I have electrical cooling and gas heat).. So if I wanted to install a system that produced enough electricity to offset what I use in an entire year I would probably need in the neighborhood of a 7000 Watt system.

My electrical bills run from $35.00 to $160.00 - The yearly total being at just under $1000 (my state has about the lowest rates you will find, we generate 80% of our electricity from renewable resources - in 1995 we had a full year of 100% renewable resource generation but then the Californians invaded and we could not build more damns so up went the natural gas generators)

So! If I could build a 7000 watt system for 7000 dollars I would not longer be paying for electricity.. Figure the electricity will flow free for the next 20 years I could borrow that 7000 over 20 years and that would be my new electrical bill... There are currently incentives (tax wise) from my state and utility so I could probably get about 30% of that money back.

A couple of caveats: Utilities are getting laws changed so they can charge those with solar setups for simply being on the grid.. Also grid tie systems count on the fact that you overproduce in the day and feed power into the system (so your neighbors get your excess power while your meter runs backward) and then average out at night when solar does not produce power. Utilities are starting to work on removing/reducing this advantage as well... So in the scenario above I could install my full system and then get a $20 monthly service fee from the power company and charged for usage at night negating much of the savings.

Edited January 24, 2014 by luckytxn

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Thanks. I am looking at buying more land and housing to rent out. In a few years I plan on building a house for my retirement and will be looking at the options. I will check into this. As for right now it seems folly to go this route because by the time you get it all set up they will come back with better and cheaper so why buy now?

Thanks for the info.

Agreed, it is not there yet and putting off pulling the trigger seems to be the best plan.. I've been watching it for years and the gains in efficiency and reduction in cost have been really good recently but still not worth it... I have this dream of getting an electric car and moving all my gas appliances to electric and having a 20,000 watt system with no other energy costs... Maybe get a high power laser and inscribe my name on the lunar surface.

There was a company a few years ago that offered to put solar on my home at no cost.. They would pay my electrical bill and I would agree to pay them exactly what I averaged to the power company the previous year for the next 20 years.. So for me it would lock in my rates for 20 years and they would hope to generate my electricity at a rate lower than I was already paying.. I was tempted.

..and for the lucky ####### paying 4 cents per kwh.. If I had a thousand mile long extension chord I think we could work out a deal

Edited January 24, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[Psoas10 17]

4 cents per Kilowatt hour. It is ten times that amount here. So solar power is as popular as adobo here in Hawaii.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

US law? Do you have a link? For some reason I thought the laws varied from state to state. I also thought power companies had different policies regarding automatic disconnect when using solar, wind etc.

As far as solar goes, with electric prices under 4 cents per kwh where I'm at, a system would never pay for itself.

It was my son in law that told me ( and showed me online ) . Both being a bit prepper minded he warned me about not being able to use a classic system without the grid.