Why solar panels are so expensive?

Question

? i mean . WHY

Answer 1

they're not expensive if you build your own and it's not that complicated either. i've built my own power generating solar panel and windmill. they make quite a difference to the electricity bill every month.

i reviewed the process on my blog: http://theearth4energyreview.blogspot.co...

Answer 2

Let a red neck who is a do it your self-er answer this for you. Most of them are on the roof so if you have something on your roof for every one in the neighbor hood too see would you want it to look like something I made in the garage. The nicer it is the more it costs. Now I figured this money saving water thing out a long time ago. It's not pretty but it works great. I use a black barrel 55gallon size I use 1/2 inch pipe and wrap it around the inside of the barrel I use a low pressure pump like a pool pump only a little smaller pump the water out of the water heater thru the barrel then back to the water heater. The barrel sit's in the sun during the day. Now it is in a location in the yard that is sunny from 10:00am-1800hours 6pm for you non militarist. it works good I have a temp senser on it so it won't come on when temp is lower than 64* But then again I live on an acre of land in florida. the panels for the general public who ***** and complain about every thing are not just expensive but a bit more advanced with a motor to tilt them and follow the sun. your choice.

Answer 3

Because current solar panels depend on ultra pure silicon which is extremely expensive to process. Some companies such as First Solar however use other materials to make there panels less expensive.  

Answer 4

because they're fragile, and use rare, expensive elements i their construction.

however, as new designs become available, and less of the expensive material is needed, the price will come down.  

Answer 5

It's an emerging technology with demand that still is not overwhelming.  Give it time.  It'll come down.

Answer 6

Pricing on solar panels, at one time, were affordable compared to FUEL prices at the time.

About eight years or so, the Petroleum industry started buying out many of the large name panel manufacturers. Do a little history research.

Shell Oil bought out Siemens, other oil companies bought out the rest. From that moment in time the pricing took a large jump.  Not only has the solar panel industry been affected by this, the wind industry is affected by the same scenario. Like I said do some history research and you will find out how the petroleum industry has their hands on control. We are all on a short leash.  Higher fuel pricing = High product costs = paid by the consumer.  It doesn't matter what part of the globe you are at, that's the way it is and that's the way its going to work.  

  Solar electric panels are not an emerging technology. An emerging technology usually takes 10 to 15 years prior any business sectors acceptance or to take the product to the market place.  Since the very early seventy's, solar was used for agricultural, communication, marine, oil and other industries for specific electric power applications.  This still holds true today. Many other industry sectors have added solar for all imaginable applications. The emerging technology of then, has changed with increased efficiencies in the components that the solar panels are connected to.  There are independent manufactures out there.  Shop around you will find them.

Answer 7

If you look at them as a long term investment like a car they aren't that expensive. I purchased a system that cost about $16K, I will break even on my investment in about 6 years, that means I will have produced about $16K in electricity in that amount of time. Then all the electricity I produce will be free, my panels are estimated to last 20-25 years, so I'm looking at 14-19 years of free electricity. Electricity prices go up every year an average of 5%.

I did get a great rebate from my utility which helped my bottom line a lot, but without it I still would have over 10 years of free energy.

Answer 8

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

The following steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their homes on solar power safely, reducing their monthly utility bills or even selling power back the the electrical companies. The entire guide is available at www agua-luna com. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need

A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.

Two alligator clip leads.

A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.

An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won't work -- mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.

A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.

Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.

Tap water.

Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.

Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don't have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.

Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.

As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.

As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.

The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.

When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.

After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.

As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.

The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.

When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.

Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best si