nye

could somebody tell me a good, trustworthy website from where i can purchase solar panels and other renewable energy resources??

__________________
\"electricity is a good slave, but a bad master\"

dknguyen

This website seems to have reasonable prices for good solar cells which are brand new:

http://www.siliconsolar.com/

fjqing8888

MicorRT

Also try www.mrsolar.com

__________________
73's Timbo

Super_voip

Where I work is attaching six hundred 150-180Watt panels to the roof. Two container loads from China. I'll see how well they work and try to find the cost per panel.

Super_voip

Well, the solar panels have arrived, I've taken a photo of the compliance plate so I can track down the manufacter. Not all the 600 will be tilted at the Sun, it seems they didn't take into account wind loading so some panels will lie flat(not very efficient)

Super_voip

OK, the container has arrived and I have seen the panels, however the use may change. I work in technical role for a house building company and there was a secondary use put forward for the panels, it was decided before the panels were ordered to give customers a choice of green (solar)power much in the same way as they have a choice of hot water system. Any extra cost over the government rebate would be picked up by us, as a marketing ploy.
The government however, changed the rebate scheme and for an installed panel rating of 1000Watts , a rebate of $8000 is available. The panels (180Watt) cost us $900 each and 6 are required for the 1000 watts, and the invertor cost us $1500. So an installation costs us $6900 and we get $8000 for doing it. More money to be made installing the panels on all the new houses than in powering our office via solar and just as much green power is produced.

Pommie

Can the excess power be fed into the grid and does the meter credit the owner of the house.

Mike.

Super_voip

The inverter syncs with the power grid and all the power appears on the grid, I don't know if a separate meter is required for the the costing. Pommie, sorry only for new homes. The installation is the home owners just as a solar water heater is.
Using all the panels on the office would have generated 100KW enough to run one of our airconditioners, putting them on peoples roofs will generate the same power but return $100,000 to us.

bryan1

Eh Pommie be carfull any grid tie PV array where they say you get paid for pumping solar into the grid is nothing but a scam. It doesnt matter what state your in you'll still get ripped off. I know a few elderly people who spent $$$$ thinking they would get a return but all of them got zip. Ya far better getting a stand alone system and any excess pv power can go into heating water or something else. To think you'll get a good return sinking over 10K in a grid tie array and think you'll get a good return to recoup your outlay is just a pie in the sky SCAM.

__________________
" The only way to avoid human error is to avoid the use of humans"

Pommie

I didn't for one minute think I would receive any money. Rather that I would be credited with the KWh that were fed into the grid. For example, say I was at work all day and produced 4kWh surplus energy, I could then use that 4kWh in the evening before I started paying for it. The old mechanical meters would run backward and so the credit was automatic, I don't think the new electronic meters do anything but count up.

BTW, I'm not thinking of doing it as it doesn't seem feasible, I just wondered about the logistics.


Mike.

Super_voip

With 1Kw solar array you will make about $1.60 / day at present rates, however if the "smart" metering ever takes over, the hottest part of the day can be charged up to $1 per Kwh, and that is when solar works best. Of course, that may be 5 to 10 years away and the price of solar will come down. Interesting that people can't recoup their money when our company will be able to make money giving them away, 600 panels = 100 houses @ $1k each in rebates= $100K for just giving them away.

Nigel Goodwin

No one ever suggested that governments had any brains!.

However, relying on government handouts is never a good idea, when they suddenly drop the scheme (which could be overnight) you may possibly end up with problems?.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

Super_voip

Not really, they tried to drop the scheme and the public backlash was such that they increased it, any way we make more money on the houses. All the rebate is signed over to us, it will take the homeowner a very long time to get that $1000 back in power generated. Of course when the initial scheme was put forward the rebate was only around $4000 and we were going to subsidise the rest, now we make money.

Super_voip

As a business model giving away free 1KW solar installations wouldn't make too much sense, the upfront cost of $540,000 for panels and $150,000 for inverters, nearly $700,000 to make a $200,000 profit doesn't look good. However you DON'T have to sell them, merely install them for the return.
I wonder how long the que would be??