Post #9183

A little parable about solar.... Once upon a time there was a twilight zone episode where an astronaut was to trave to another star. It would take 70 years. He took off and humanity kinda forgot about him. In the mean time, scientists developed a faster way to get to this star. When he arrived 70 years later, there were already people coming and going to from this in a day's travel. Such is the tale of the Ivanpah solar plant. It was created when PV solar cost a lot more than it does today. It would have been profitable if the cost of PV panels hadn't come down so much. Like our 70 year astronaut, we never imagined the price would drop so much in 15 years. Everyone crying about the US solar tax subsidy going away.... the price of panels has come down so much that the project can be done cheaper today for cash than it could 10 years ago with the subsidy. The panels are the cheapest part of the system and also the most visible. Panels are usually 40c per watt give or take. You'll spend as much on racking as you do solar panels so those two a tied for cheapest part of the system. Next is inverters and MPPT chargers. Plan on spending anywhere from $1500 to $6500 for inverters. And the most expensive part of the system is the batteries. Plan to spend between $5000 and $12000 for batteries for a serious system. It is 100% possible to run a heat pump heated/cooled 1600sq ft house for $24,000 worth of solar equipment.