Why are solar cells so expensive?

Best Answer

The price is coming down. In the 70%26#039;s, it was $100 per watt, but in the 80%26#039;s, it was only $20 per watt. Now, it%26#039;s $4 per watt.

There is a way to calculate a cost per kilowatt-hour for solar. You take the price of a system, and divide it by the total kWh%26#039;s you expect the system to produce over its lifetime. By such measures, solar electricity is about 50% to 100% more expensive than general grid power. It will, of course, be cheaper in some areas and situations. When solar electricity comes down to the same cost as the average household would pay the electric company, there will be a huge demand for solar, because it will only get cheaper from there. This point is called %26quot;grid parity.%26quot;

I think we should hit grid parity in 2-4 years, both because solar is getting cheaper, and other energy is getting more expensive.

Asker's Rating:

I think a national policy to get solar cells to as many as possible should be implamented

Other Answers (5)

• Because it takes time, energy and raw materials to produce them. Why doesn%26#039;t a car cost $100? Why doesn%26#039;t a computer cost $5?
  
  Actually, it%26#039;s not so much that solar panels are so expensive. Its that other forms of power (such as coal) are so darned cheap. They seem expensive when you compare them to what we are paying for our energy now.
  
  There are some recent innovations in solar technology, such as thin film, that hold great promise in bringing the price of solar power down. And as the price of electricity rises, sooner or later, solar power will be at a reasonable price, when compared with other fuels.
• solar cells are cheap.
  
  oh, you want to run your house on them? now you need 3 to five times the area plus battereies to save up enough power for when the sun don%26#039;t shine.
  
  plus you need voltage converters and plenty of other stuff because your house is not set up to run on low DC voltage.
  
  then yuo gotta install all of it.
  
  the cells themselves end up not even being a majority of the expense
• the average cost of solar cells make the payout time 15 to 20 years. About the time they are paid for, they need replaced or you are dead. Right now, put the $40,000 it cost to buy a system in the bank, you%26#039;ll earn enough interest to pay your electric bill.
• 
  there probable aren%26#039;t enough companies competing with each other pricewise. invest, and have more people invest in more companies to make the product, and watch the price drop.
• It depends on how you look at it, I look at it like paying my electric bill 10 years in advance and getting another 10-20 years for free.