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> What happens if the price drops by 10x? That won't happen overnight obviously. That won’t happen at all, at least not in the foreseeable future. https://www
by Someone 3y ago
> What happens if the price drops by 10x? That won't happen overnight obviously.
That won’t happen at all, at least not in the foreseeable future.
https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/solar/cost-of-solar-panels/ https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/solar/cost-of-solar-...: “The average cost to install solar panels per watt is between $0.90 and $1.50 per watt for the materials and an additional 25% for the labor. This means you’ll spend anywhere between $1.10 and $1.90 per watt in total.“, so even if all hardware became free, we’re ‘only’ looking at a price drop of 80%.
Because a lot of the hardware cost isn’t the solar cells proper, I think predicting a price drop of 50% already is fairly optimistic.
> We're heading for a future where energy is going to be dirt cheap, clean, and plentiful.
That, I think is true.
- ben_w 3y ago> Because a lot of the hardware cost isn’t the solar cells proper, I think predicting a price drop of 50% already is fairly optimistic. Perhaps optimistic, perhaps pessimistic. Things can change on a dime if the politicians can make a campaign pledge along the lines of: "I went to Europe the other day. Know what I saw in the budget supermarket? Solar. Complete system people can put on their apartment balconies for about a dollar per watt. Standard unit costs about the same as a family's weekly shop, and then they get free energy for the next 25 years." (The 150W balcony units Lidl sell for €219 are in the middle of your price range; this is just to demonstrate that it's possible to cut out the middle-man).
- bryanlarsen 3y agoHome roof installations are going to be a rounding error compared to industrial solar installations, and the price of those will follow the price drop of panels a lot more closely.