Solar industry company talks about the new spray on solar cells.

[NNadir]

This comes from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun.

Vaporware - this is the 4th type - the one that pops up in the news about every 3 months, proclaiming the next major breakthrough that will make plastic spray on solar cells that will cost around 5 cents a watt, or some similar claim. Well, after almost 30 years in this business, we are still waiting for one of those to actually reach production, and I suspect we will be waiting for another 30.

http://www.solar-electric.com/Solar_Panels/solar_electric_panels.htm

The solar industry in Arizona, as is the case on the rest of the planet, is a trivial form of energy, doing nothing more to fight climate change than to allow people to only hear what they want to hear.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/sept04az.xls

And while they diddle with themselves with self delusion, the planet dies.

We hear, of course, all about what solar energy will do in some far off future, but never what it is doing now, and so, it is refreshing to see a sudden outburst of honesty from a solar business.

"Of all God's creatures, the hen is the wisest, because it cackles only after it has laid an egg" -Abraham Lincoln.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Something to look at, these people have probably been doing this

sort of thing for 20 plus years, just a guess, but if you check out the archives, you will see how creative some people who aren't satisfied with things as they are can be.

www.homepower.com

[Yavapai]

2. Northern Arizona Wind and Sun are the people whom I bought

everything to put up 3KW of solar. They are great people to do business with.

I had a million questions and they had the patience to answer all my questions. Although I am sure that sometimes when I would call, they would cover the phone with their hand and say "whose turn is it to talk to the pest?"

With all the incentives (Federal, State taxes, the power company rebate, etc.) I am sure that I will break even in about 4 more years. Then my power will be free from then on, and a lot less carbon in the atmosphere.

If you are in Arizona, I highly recommend them!!! :bounce:

[NNadir]

3. How long have you had this system?

[Yavapai]

4. I started with about 1/2 of the system 3 years ago, then

expanded it 2 years ago.

[NNadir]

7. Let me back calculate then and see how close I come to identifying the cost.

You say you will break even in about 4 years and that you have run the system for 2 years, meaning 5 years at full output. You also indicate that your system is 3kw, and presumably, as is the practice in the solar industry, you are referring to "peak" power, and not average power. Six years at full use, 3 kw times 86400 seconds per day and 365.25 days per year, would be about 160,000 kw-hr of electricity, but since night, weather, and less than ideal angles with the sun are a regular feature, the figures I have seen, even in Arizona suggest 25% capacity utilization. This suggests about 40,000 kw hrs produced over six years. You ran half the system for 1 year, suggesting that you obtained roughly an additional 3,000 kw hours in this time, meaning that you have generated 43,000 kw-hrs of electricity.

For the years 2000-2006, a six year period, electricity in Arizona, according to the EIA, averaged 8.45 cents kw-hr.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/sept08az.xls

This suggests that your system cost you $3,610.

Correct?

From these numbers, since you say that all of your electricity will be "free" after 4 years, is that this system produces all of the electricity you use, probably using the grid as a battery, i.e. net metering. (A battery system would add even more cost.)

This suggests that your continuous average power consumption is 750 watts.

How close are these figures to your experience?

[FREEWILL56]

5. The type of solar cells you describe I agree are vaporware and

I for one would love to be proven wrong as I'm sure you would be. I noticed you did not link to the actual thread and I must clarify that Northern Arizona Wind & Sun is NOT proposing or saying anything about offering cheap sprayon solar cells as you imply, but is the result of some fly-by-night outfit (I believe it's Nanosolar) making these wild claims that was only reported upon in the forum there. Few on the forum believe those claims.
http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/showthread.php?t=1915
BTW, a link showing how power is presently being produced is proof of what?

[diane in sf]

6. Nanosolar is a real company--I'm not sure who you're talking about.

[FREEWILL56]

8. I did not say it wasn't a real company.

Those companies making those diet pills with outlandish claims of weightloss are real companies too.