Is solar a good option?

[I Think]

New solar panels are not quite as efficient but cost less to make so they are a little larger per watt but cost less per watt.
You can still buy the smaller panels for use where space is a consideration.

[maryjane48]

as of now how well do the best solar panels convert sunlight to electrons? how much more better could they get?

[I Think]

PV panels are about 30% efficient, this has not changed much in the last 30 years and is not likely to change much in the future, although there are more efficient panels at around 40% they are so expensive that their use is limited to satelites and military use.
There may be a breakthrough in the works related to thermal pv hybrid technology but look for them to arrive in the next 20 years or so.

[django]

[Smurf]

A little checking shows that this bankruptcy is close to becoming a fact.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business ... e425fc30c0

If this happens it should make us all very wary about getting too involved in solar at least at this time. If he is right about the extremely high cost of their power we should run away from large solar projects like scared rabbits. They might even prove to be as bad or worse that IPP's.

[Jlabute]

as of now how well do the best solar panels convert sunlight to electrons? how much more better could they get?

There are dozens of different types of cells, of which vary in efficiency from 8% up to about 25%. Exotic cells can be 37% or slightly higher and contain exotic semiconductor materials like gallium arsenide or indium gallium arsenide. Nothing you'd want to pay for unless you were rich and had access to it some how. Poisonous manufacturing processes.


http://www.sciencealert.com/panasonic-h ... efficiency

This could be the best you or I could buy and is probably not only in a laboratory. The best will be costly compared to more common cells. 22% efficiency would be in direct sunlight at the equator. The trick will be to have more wattage, with less light, and reliable and non toxic batteries. Battery tech is always improving. Solar cells though, it is hard to create a means to mass manufacture large panels that are efficient, non toxic, with cheap materials. Si is cheap but not so efficient. There are talks of using graphene and all sorts of stuff but none are feasible yet. 100W at the equator could be 1/2 or less in Canada... And could be almost non-existent through a Kelowna winter.

[dirtybiker]

Incredible, I hope this is a farce! This town in N. Carolina shot down a solar power project for fear
of all the sunlight being sucked up and blaming it for killing their farmland.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/13 ... ns-energy/

-db

[I Think]

So many bad decisions made around energy projects of all stripes.
When it comes to solar, no need for mega projects, small local PV arrays can be sited on roof tops of stores, warehouses and homes with little ecological effects and little need to upgrade the grid to accept the smaller inputs.
If a company with 1 million invested goes broke, someone can pick up the piecses, when a maga project folds with a billion spent, it gets a little tougher.
Too many politicians and executives making decisions without listening to the engineers.
BTW site C may have this disease.

[Smurf]

Wonder how solar would be working these days in the Okanagan. The light over our dining room table takes 360 watts and that is actually low power for it. It would drain a 400 watt system easily these days. If we are home at Christmas we make supper, eat supper, clean up, play board games and who knows what else. We'd be getting out the candles half way through. Those small systems are a bit of a supplement but can never make up for a large supply source. Most places that have them use them during the day and then use the grid at night. If there is no one home or using it during the day they sell a bit and then buy it back at night because they have no production. Yes they hook up well but what do you do when you get a week of rain with no sun, oh wait a month of rain and snow and it is cold. Wood stoves, fireplaces, or gas if you have enough power for a fan etc.. At this point solar is a supplement not a supply especially in BC.

[I Think]

Smurf, forget solar here until the prices drop quite a bit more.
Even if you did install solar, it would take a big array but would still not put out enough to stress the grid. (but you knew that already grin)

[maryjane48]

A little checking shows that this bankruptcy is close to becoming a fact.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business ... e425fc30c0

If this happens it should make us all very wary about getting too involved in solar at least at this time. If he is right about the extremely high cost of their power we should run away from large solar projects like scared rabbits. They might even prove to be as bad or worse that IPP's.

what you failed to also mention was this from your link:De Guindos said from “a business point of view”, the company was viable and that the reason they are in this postion is another company backed out at last minute , zero to do with this project being worth going ahead with .but you knew that .

[Omnitheo]

I don't think anyone is calling for solar to replace all other forms of power generation. It's just one other opportunistic way we can exploit nature to generate power. There are some places that are great for it, and others that are horrible, and even solar has its own side effects like other power generation techniques.

Overall though, the benefits outweigh the the cost for the proper use of solar panels and arrays.

[Veovis]

Incredible, I hope this is a farce! This town in N. Carolina shot down a solar power project for fear
of all the sunlight being sucked up and blaming it for killing their farmland.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/13 ... ns-energy/

-db

I hope this is real, that is comedy gold. There are many reason solar isn't a replacement utility yet, but not many that it can't be a supplement, but to have some of those stated reasons that are randomly unrelated is awesome. I can see the thought process...

"You see ya'll only soooo much sunlight can hit my field until it gets dark, that means it has a FINITE amount each day, now if go and dern well suck it all up into them thar pannels well then those poor folk down the road are just going to live each day in the dark like they at the north pole er somthin?"

[I Think]

Trump is gonna fix it tho'
He has a secret agenda of defunding all schools.

[Smurf]

I Think wrote:

Smurf, forget solar here until the prices drop quite a bit more.
Even if you did install solar, it would take a big array but would still not put out enough to stress the grid. (but you knew that already grin)

Yes I knew it already, every post I have made about it says that. All I was doing was commenting on the original question "is solar a good option". No I do not believe it is for many of the reasons I have stated in the any number of topics on the subject of electrical power of one sort or another. In Yuma where I live in the winter it is very viable due to the amount of sunlight. You see it everywhere and growing all the time..