Why is solar power so costly ?

Question

Is it that setting up the power plant is costly ? because no fuel will be required once the plant is setup , so it should reduce running costs ?

Answer 1

the cost of setting one up is not that costly, the main cost is the transmision lines or that is what the electric company wants you to beleive,  if your talking about solar cells, the cost of them is too high to be used

Answer 2

The reason is that the materials to manufacture a solar panel are rather expensive and the wattage output per Sq-ft is fairly low. The running cost would be low but the installed cost is very high.

Answer 3

the panels are very expensive and each one does not produce that much electricity.

Answer 4

The materials to build them (silicon, etc) are in high demand and are the bulk of the cost.  Research facilities are currently working on low cost nano technology to create solar panels that are much more affordable.

Answer 5

dude it is a lib pipe dream ! oil is the fuel that runs the free world. USA has more oil than the middle east,the libs and tree huggers shut down domestic production 20 years ago.time for an oil revolution ! http://americansolutions.com/drillnow

Answer 6

The panels are costly to build and plenty of energy and resources goes into their manufacture.  They only produce their peak energy in full sunlight on a cloudless day when the sun is hitting them at a 90 degree angle.  They produce less under any other circumstances.

On a cloudless day, one would have to pave the entire state of New York with solar panels just to power Manhattan Island.

Answer 7

Transmission lines need to be built no matter what source you use, so that is a constant cost with all sources.  That takes it out of the running a deciding factor.

Most of the answers seem to focus on photovoltaics.  What about concentrating the light with morrors to create heat?  All current methods (coal, oil, nuclear) are just different ways of heating water to run a turbine.  Solar can just be another way to heat the water.  The question is whether you can heat enough water to make it feasablle.

You still need a lot of area, but I'm, not sure how the area will be compared to photovoltaics.

Answer 8

Primarily the cost of materials, as mentioned, and the demand is high.

And for the ill informed:

Will the system still generate electricity on a cloudy day?

Yes. As long as they receive light, PV panels will generate electricity. Clouds make the sunlight ambient, not direct, so the output from the panels will be less, but they will still generate a significant amount of electricity.

Answer 9

Poor engineering at the basic level is the only reason solar panels are so costly. The basic level is how the silicon is produced-very poorly engineered. The foundry design used for silicon is just not designed to make inexpensive solar panels. Fix the foundry and the cost will come way down. And pollution will be reduced too.

Answer 10

The costs are rapidly decreasing Nanosolar has released their plastic film photovoltaic's (NO SILICON) as well as a few other companies are about to begin shipping as well. Right now they're just under $1 a watt but expect about 10 cents a watt in a year. Using plastic Film the next generation photo cells will match your shingles so unless you really look you won't notice them on a house, as well as a photovoltaic paint that is in development now.

meister "solar thermal generation" is the new focus for large scale distribution. Solargenics Nevada solar one is now on line and the current largest plant in existence using a schott receiver at 64 megawatts or enough to power 40000 homes however a 150 megawatt plant is now under construction.

Answer 11

Until today solar power plant is still costly. It is because to make a solar cell to generate energy is costly. you may think that manufacturing in large number can cut down cost, but one solar cell used in power plant can be as long as a car. This is why few country can afford to have a such power plant. Besides, building a solar power plant has to take in consideration of wether. Do you think Ireland can build a solar power plant? The country is cold, the solar cell can get freeze easily. Scientists should  find a new combination of elements to make solar cell have better generating power.