Reply #2: Direct to consumer, that's what. [View All]

[skids]

Putting aside the subsidy issues, the cost here is deployment cost. If the PV were deployed in the traditional sense of a large power distributer reselling to the customer, chop off the markup, and solar is already cheaper, dollarwise, in the long run than any distributed power. Bring that price down and you'll start seeing payback periods more along the lines of 5 years, 2.5 years, 1.25 years. That's more in line with homeowner's expectations for an investment.

Here in the U.S. about half of the PV we install is not tied to the electrical grid, but used directly onsite by the owner. That's an unusually large number compared to other countries. I think that number is about to go up even further both here and abroad, as declining panel prices without a corresponding decline in grid-tie electronics prices will make off-grid more attractive than grid-tie.