Since photovoltaic cells, placed on suitable residential roofs, in the right part of the country can usually?

Question

have a payback in a few short years--and with the right number of pv's can actually "sell back" to the electrical grid from the git-go; why is it not feasable that a government entity loan the money for their installation?

This could have some impact on solving our energy needs, could it not?

Sorry, folks, I guess I've been watching too much propaganda on the subject!!!

I stand corrected.

Sorry, folks, I guess I've been watching too much propaganda on the subject!!!

I stand corrected.

Answer 1

It is not feasible for a government to loan such a thing only because governments are VERY SLOW to understand new technologies, and they don't know the difference between 1st gen solar cells and 3rd and 4th gen cells....

Also, at least the current *US* government would dismiss the idea as "liberal" no matter how good an idea it is, and never have it come to pass.

Tax breaks are about all the homeowner wanting to go green can get.

(Also, places that are best for solar cells are the places that tend to need the most Air Conditioning, meaning that if we moved people to places where solar was 100% viable, we'd increase their need for electricity beyond the capacity for current solar tech....if only all answers were easy!)

Answer 2

Financial aid is definitely a useful governmental tool to speed adoption of new technology. Right now, it would be more appropriate to apply that aid to energy efficiency improvement, such as led traffic lights for small cities and home insulation retrofit, because the limiting factor in PVs is production capacity - it had just hit about 1600 MW worldwide in 2004. There is a lot of PV production capacity coming online soon, but it will have a hard time keeping up with demand for at least a decade. Subsidies will not actually have much effect on the installed capacity for that reason.

Answer 3

The government actually does give large federal and state rebates for just such projects. The problem is that even with the 65% rebales they give the practical cost is still about $15-20,000 per home. Most homeowners cannot afford anouther monthy payment to that size. If I could , I would do it right now. I do not see why the government does not madate on all new construction Solar PV Arrays on the roof of all new buildings. Until it is mandated it will ot happen on a large enough scale to make a large difference. Once mandating it happenes it will become cheap enough to be cost effective after it has gone into large production.

Answer 4

The economics are at present unfavorable. The installed cost of a photovoltaic solar plant is about $10 a watt. Each watt of installed capacity can produce a maximum of 2 kWh per year, which at today's electricity prices is worth about 25 cents. Clearly, investing money in a solar plant is not an economic proposition, unless subsidized quite substantially. (Which makes it a losing proposition for society generally, as opposed to the owner.)

Answer 5

Those aren't such short years, and there's quite a few of them. Solar panels are still exceedingly expensive: check eBay for prices, and note that these are typically used ones with only part of their rated power output available (solar cells have a finite life, please note.) The remainder of the hookup--the DC/60Hz inverter, transformers, and the battery bank if necessary--is not so cheap, either.

Note also that you sell power back to the utility wholesale, not retail, generally, so it doesn't quite turn your meter backwards.

Right now, approximately 0.0% of electric power in the USA is produced from solar energy. It is, at present, just too expensive to bother with.