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to you and others for the welcome,wasnt sure how a greeniac would be seen here but yeah if the u.s. would invest in silane processing plants solar prices would drop to 2$ a Watt.Add more capacity,the price keeps dropping,it is the only thing holding solar back.Its actually sort of a mystery to me as to why there arent u.s. startups trying to do it because there are a number of PV/wafer ventures being invested in that are as cost/capital intensive as silicon processing.Think a plant is 500M.Everyone else is expanding all over the place and are just scratching and clawing to find long term contracts that lock them into non-spot PV grade polysilicon supplies so they can assure their production and locked in panel/cell prices. One cool recent thing is Dow's introduction of their metallurgic silicon which can be added to ingots which reduces the amount of silicon needed to produce a 260kg block.Really what the game plan these days is-- to reduce the amount of silicon needed--cells are now being produced that are much thinner than traditional cells but its really just a mid-chain bandaid to fix rising raw materials costs. Just seems weird to me--the contracts could be pre-signed to build the plant from companies wanting guaranteed, fixed PV silicon supplies-it is a norm in the industry...why arent people in the u.s. doing it?Havent figured it out yet but it means that panel prices arent going to drop until 2 new plants in norway open up.Thats 2008.Sucks... NOTE:BP could do this at a drop of a hat but they havent helped the industry since they entered it.They claim leadership and innovation but is nothing more than glossed bullshit.Ovionics,Sun Power and Evergreen are the companies that contribute along with a huge list of European and Asian companies.They are the ones trying to innovate and expand the industry to reduce costs and get solar to off the shelf status. Man if anyone is interested in solar panels,if you get them,please,please,please do not buy BP panels. They do nothing on a substantiative level to help PV and are really in it to keep a base for themselves when oil ceases to be a viable product for transportation.When oil dries up,they will then sink all their $ in green energy-most will go to H2 tied to coal but they will try to reassert themselves through sheer buyout power,to take control of the solar market.Essentially reap the rewards of a market that everyone else but themselves built. Evergreen is the company that replaced the panels on the whitehouse(placed by carter and removed by reagan) during Clinton's terms. Buy from them or sun power,uni solar--all american held companies and people trying to help the industry thrive.
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