Solar panels, why they are a bad investment

[factseeker88]

Simply put, Solar panels don't work when the clouds are overcast and at night, sunny areas of roofs are too small to accommodate all electrical needs, Battery storage is useless because there is no place to put the DC to AC inverters. Circuit breaker panels are not accessible to parallel wire hookups, and buying a new one is a huge extra expense. If there is no basement or a place to install the inverters, a small outside building will be needed to house them.

[iNow]

And yet they are successfully used by a countless many each and every single day in numerous applications and settings despite your assertions to the contrary.

[factseeker88]

And yet they are successfully used by a countless many each and every single day in numerous applications and settings despite your assertions to the contrary.

 

I'm an electrical engineer, I know what I'm talking about, Wide spread denial behavior is a case for Psychologists, not engineers.

 

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. Mark Twain

.

[swansont]

 

I'm an electrical engineer

 

But not an economist. Evidently.

[Externet]

"Solar panels, why they are a bad investment"

They are not, never been cheaper than now (scroll down) ----> http://sunelec.com/

And these are prices to public, not manufacturer's !

Depends on your energy costs.

 

Solar panels don't work when the clouds are overcast...

Wrong : they just yield less. Did you expect other ?----> http://www.leisurebatteriesireland.com/store/image/data/AKT/AKT20%20web%20output%20graphs.jpg

 

...sunny areas of roofs are too small to accommodate all electrical needs

That is a roofing fault, not a solar panel fault, and you thinking that is the only place they can be mounted.

 

Battery storage is useless because there is no place to put the DC to AC inverters.

That is room fault, not a solar panel fault. And inverters can be very small ----> http://www.solarelectricsupply.com/solar-inverter/magnum

 

Circuit breaker panels are not accessible to parallel wire hookups,

To parallel what ? You have to disconnect the main breaker to feed power from your inverter into an existing breaker panel, or can kill someone working on power company lines;

 

...and buying a new one is a huge extra expense.

No, it is not huge. A breaker panel is less expensive than solar panels or inverters or batteries.

 

If there is no basement or a place to install the inverters, a small outside building will be needed to house them.

An inverter can be smaller than you think. Did you expect it to be the size of your smart phone ?

And one suffice.----> http://www.solarelectricsupply.com/solar-inverter/magnum

[Phi for All]

 

I'm an electrical engineer, I know what I'm talking about,

 

Each of your five objective points was refuted pretty successfully though. "Huge expense" is a subjective observation, to be fair.

 

Don't forget that solar panel supply encourages demand-side efficiency as well. Smarter lighting, controls, and appliances increase the effectiveness of solar panels.

[iNow]

His quote unquote calculation above also fails to account for the huge environmental expense of the status quo and the extreme economic cliff off of which we will need to ultimately leap if we wait too long to begin large scale mitigation efforts (such ad drastically increasing use of renewables like solar).

[EdEarl]

 

I'm an electrical engineer, I know what I'm talking about,

I too am an electrical engineer, and disagree with your assessment.

 

Moreover, I know that power companies hire electrical engineers, and the power company in my city built a solar farm and retired a coal fired power plant because the solar power is less expensive than the coal power. Moreover, companies such as Solar City, a distributed PV power company, in cities with high cost electricity, will install PV on your house and lease the system to you for less than the cost of city power to you. Now Solar City stays in business because Solar PV is less expensive than power from the local power company.

 

In other words, lots of other electrical engineers and business men, disagree with your assessment.

 

Show your calculations. How much power does an average home need. How many PV panels, at what cost, how much does it cost to finance the installation. How long does it take to pay back the investment based on the power gotten from the installation.

[John Cuthber]

I think there's a point he made which has been missed thus far.

Circuit breaker panels are not accessible to parallel wire hookups, and buying a new one is a huge extra expense.

Here's a middle of the range example

http://www.wickes.co.uk/5-Way-Insulated-Consumer-Unit/p/106797

£38

I can piss that against the wall on a good Friday night.

 

I grant that the grid tie inverter is a lot more expensive.

 

Of course, if you use solar power just for heating + hot water it's easier.

[Sensei]

...sunny areas of roofs are too small to accommodate all electrical needs

 

I calculated long time ago that for all my needs (~330 kWh per month) I would need 18 m^2 of solar panels. It includes night time and slightly winter.

 

Is 18 m^2 a lot or not?

18 m^2 is 14 panels that have 1600x800 mm (1.28 m^2), 15% effectiveness (160 W/m^2)

Each of them costs here $303, so total solar panels installation is $4242. It's cost of 64 months (5 years 4 months) power station bills (with inflation less).

Costs of batteries and inverter not able to estimate. But inverter I could build by myself.

 

Roof above my room has exactly 5x4 m = 20 m^2..

 

If installation would work 50 years, and I would have to pay in advance for 6 years, isn't 12% of power station bills? And 88% saved?

With inflation (at least increase 5-10% prices of electric bills per year now), it'll be much much better investment..

Edited August 25, 2014 by Sensei

[Edwina Lee]

And people find cheaper and cheaper ways of harvesting solar power too!

 

Here's a very recent example of another cheaper way of making solar panels:-

 

2014-06-26 Making more efficient solar cells with Magnesium Chloride obtained from sea water

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28017935