Count Blah
Poster under the graph claims solar photovoltaic can make
money at .o8 cents kwh if panelprice drops to .80 cents a watt. now is at 1.40 cents a watt
If that is correct then solar will be competitive source
of electricity in a few years and could in theory eliminate
the need for burning fossil fuels during daylight hours.
That is much better if true than I had thought. Furthermore
since it could be put on everyone's roofs it would be
able to decentralize the power equation.
I stand corrected if true.
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Now, that may sound a bit discouraging, but let’s say the graph continues its trend down to roughly $0.70 or $0.80 per Watt when the cumulative module production reaches 100,000 MW. Under these circumstances, I set up a few formulas to see what the payback period would be for a solar farm, and it can be a big money maker even with $0.08 per kW-hr and a 0.15 capacity factor. I played it conservatively by assigning a very high maintenance, management and overhead cost per year.
Hell, even with the 2010 photovoltaic price of around $1.40 per Watt, a home-sized installation could pay itself back in as little as five years with a 0.3 capacity factor and $0.10 per kW-hr of electricity saved."""""""""