Question by : How much does it cost a factory to make a solar panel?
Is it really necessary to make solar panels that expensive?
Best answer:
Answer by hipp5
Unfortunately, yes. Solar panels require high-grade silicon which is very expensive. Also, volume sales aren’t yet high enough to push down prices. Don’t worry though, as people buy them and the technology matures it’ll get cheaper. I remember DVD players costing $ 2000+. Now you can get one for less than $ 30.
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4 comments
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Hephaestus says:
September 24, 2011 at 12:28 pm (UTC 0)
I never understood why Silicon is so expensive, it’s the 2nd most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the 8th most abundant metalloid in the universe.
I just look forward to when we start mining Ganymede, it has plenty of Silicate rock.
Uncle Dud says:
September 24, 2011 at 1:09 pm (UTC 0)
Yes look at the processing involved. If we can get der fuhrer Obama out of the way we can automate the process and make them more cost effective.
Did I say Obama sucks.
Obama sucks!
roderick_young says:
September 24, 2011 at 1:13 pm (UTC 0)
First Solar recently announced that their costs to produce panels dropped below $ 1 per watt. I don’t know how much of that is accounting tricks. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they would sell panels for that price – any capitalistic company is expected to drive the price up to what the market will bear.
Crystalline silicon panel producers are coming in at about $ 2.50/watt right now for the best of them. But again, the selling price is what the market will bear.
SolarBerg says:
September 24, 2011 at 1:26 pm (UTC 0)
Making solar panels is very similar to making silicon computer chips. They are baked and handled in ‘clean rooms’ (think guys in white smocks) and are very delicate. The process is very energy intensive (they are baked after all) and take a relatively long time. That’s where the expense comes from.
The next wave is thin film solar, which is made in a process much closer to commercial printing techniques. This is being promised as the future and they say the solar panels will cost a fraction of what they do now. Check out the main player in this technology:
http://www.nanosolar.com/