Solar power involves
wondrous quantum physics and materials
science, but its fate may hinge on whether contractors can learn to
bolt on the panels without losing too many screws. The panels
themselves account for only about half the cost of a solar array; the
rest is the installation and back-end
equipment. As panel makers slash their prices, the nuts
and bolts loom ever larger. Fortunately, a quiet revolution is now
underway in installation. Brendan Neagle, the chief operations officer
of Borrego
Solar, a major U.S. installer, says they've sped up installation by
40 percent over the past two years. Zep Solar has invented a new roof
mounting system, already supported by the module maker Canadian
Solar, that speeds things up by another factor of two. And Nat
Kreamer, president of Acro Energy, another large installer,
says they've streamlined the preparation work and can get a system up on
your roof within 30 days of your first phone call -- quite an
improvement on the eight
or so months it took me.
In fact, historically, most of the cost savings for solar power have come on the low-tech side. According to a Lawrence Berkeley Lab study last year, arrays in 1998 cost about $11 per watt of generating capacity: $5 for the modules themselves, $6 for the installation and equipment. By 2008 the modules have fallen by $1 per watt, the installation by $2. Prices have come down as installers have climbed up the learning curve. And there's clearly room for them to do even better. The study reported that arrays in Germany are $2 per watt cheaper than in the U.S. "Anything that is inefficient needs to be attacked," says Mike Miskovsky, the general manager of Canadian Solar.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Solar at Home: Cutting the cost of solar by watching every nut and bolt
Author: George
Musser
