Why are solar panels so expensive?

Question

Space age technology. I can buy a non-stick frying pan in Tesco for £3.99, why can't I buy a decent solar panel for £9.99? The cheapest panels from electrical and component retailers seems to be £50.

Answer 1

Because the Government can make more on taxes that way.

So much for them encouraging us to be greener huh!

You could always try making your own like this guy did.

Check it out....http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_236...

Answer 2

Government + Oil = your answer

Answer 3

Like everything else Solar panels are going to stay expensive until more people start using them and therefore increase the need for them at an affordable price...SUPPLY AND DEMAND!!!

Answer 4

One of the biggest reasons the cost of solar panels is so high is that the current best mass market solar cells are made from crystalline silicon which is difficult and expensive to manufacture.

The drive toward increasing solar cell efficiency has focused largely on crystalline silicon as the basis of most available solar cells. There is research being performed on other technologies with the hope that they can eliminate the need for the expensive crystalline silicon. With the renewed focus on renewable energy that hope is growing.

I've added a few references to get you started....

Timothy D.

West Melbourne, FL

Answer 5

the governments sneaky way to get more money........

Answer 6

Alot of super-stupid responses to this good question!! hehe

Solar panels are made of super-refined, enriched, doped, electronically polarized "slizes" of silicon that are joined together to create electricity. Maybe you already know that, but if you didn't, there are entire books devoted to them. The silicon they are made of is not expensive (sand....which makes up...I believe....greater than 1% of the earth's crust, making it EXTREMELY available), but it is the ridiculously tedious process of refining the silicone and "doping" materials use to make solar cells to extremely high tolerances, and then the process of machining all those materials together, that makes them expensive. That, and the insane amount of electricity, heat, water, and general energy that goes into their production.

The actual cost of the cells is mind-numblingly huge....the markup from manufacturer to retail is decidedly low compared with other electronics, like cellphones.

The processes for producing panels continue to evolve, and supply-and-demand is sure to increase productivity and R&D enough so that they will become more affordable......EVENTUALLY....but for right now the cost of a decent home solar system (including the batteries and power inverters) is upwards of AT LEAST $20,000. A good one is around $30,000.

No stupid government conspiracy or price-control here.....sorry to the ignorant idiots out there.

Oh and a last thing, non-stick pans made out of the old non-stick material are NOT space age. Teflon, the material found in all the cheap $6 (3 pound) pans out there is super-easy to produce, and is cancer-causing. That's why they are so d**n cheap.

Answer 7

It's not a conspiracy, it's a matter of supply and demand and rapidly evolving technologies. Solar panels are a bit more complex than a frying pan or motor scooter. They require exotic materials (gallium arsenide isn't a cheap material) and hand inspection, New technologies come out frequently so a standard is hard to maintain. There are few turnkey systems because most of the production goes to organizations and not individuals.

The most promising technology I've seen in years is the one by Ausra which uses mirrors to focus sunlight on a pipe with a liquid, it gets heated to boiling, then the steam is used to turn a turbine that creates the electricity. You don't need exotic materials, just mirrors, pipe and a turbine, along with a transformer and batteries (for storage). They don't have any residential units yet, but you can check them out at Ausra.com and ask them to hurry up and offer one.

I've also seen the rollable films which would be great, but again, there are kinks to work out and the initial production seems to go to utilities and bulk buyers.

Answer 8

Because the people who make & sell them are ripping us off.

Answer 9

There are many chemicals in solar panels that absorb infored rays and convert them into electrical pulses.Most of these are made in a lab so company's exploit the fact that they are hard to make by raising the price.