Cheap Solar Panels to Save the World

Posted by Max Dunn Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:26:38 GMT | 1 comment

Nanosolar announced that is is starting to ship its thin-film solar panels that cost less than $1 per watt! Could these panels save the world?

Maybe, but Nanosolar is being very tight about information, citing patent concerns:

“Technical Data Sheet? We presently share product data sheets only under Non-Disclosure Agreement with qualified volume customers. This is so we can extend the period of protection for certain proprietary features we have developed.”

Their first 12 months of production is already sold out and is going to commercial installations, so maybe it isn’t efficient enough to put on a house. But there was one tidbit where Nanosolar’s CEO said they could produce about as much energy as the a silicon wafer.

It also received Popular Science’s Green Tech product of the Year award

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Solar vs Coal: Who Wins?

Posted by Max Dunn Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:11:07 GMT | 5 comments

A new solar power plant just opened up at Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada [1]. Currently it is the largest solar photovoltaic system in North America with a capability of 14 megawatts (mW) of peak power, and producing about 25 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year [2].

However, it cost $100 million to build, which is about $7,000 per kilowatt (kW). This is a lot more than a coal-powered plants which costs about $3,000 per kW to build [3]. But since the sun is free and coal-powered plants have to pay for the coal, shouldn’t this make up for the additional cost of solar systems?

It turns out, that it doesn’t. To see why, let’s look at the numbers.

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