tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post5027646810611502684..comments2023-12-01T16:56:04.415+11:00Comments on Peak Energy: A new direction for American solar?Big Gavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682404837426502876noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post-19549069595318948692010-11-10T04:47:10.916+11:002010-11-10T04:47:10.916+11:00Residential solar installation costs are rapidly f...Residential solar installation costs are rapidly falling in the US. <br /><br />"Three companies that provide solar leasing for the residential market – SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity – have installed costs (before any federal, state or utility incentives) of $5.00 to $6.00 per Watt. Mt. Pleasant Solar Cooperative in Washington, DC, successfully negotiated prices on 50 to 100 residential solar PV installations down to $5.50 per Watt (or lower). And finally, a Los Angeles cooperative called Open Neighborhoods recently announced a residential PV cooperative solar buy for $4.78 per Watt, almost identical to the SolarBuzz price for industrial scale (500 kW) installations."<br /><br />http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/11/distributed-small-scale-solar-competes-with-large-scale-pv<br /><br />If enough people sign up with Open Neighborhoods their price could drop to $4.22/W. And that is without any government subsidies. The 30% Federal subsidy would drive the price below $3/W cost to the purchaser.<br /><br />The Open Neighborhood installations would produce power in the $0.10 - $0.12 range which should be very attractive to people now paying as much as $0.30 for peak hour electricity.<br /><br />Dow is going to have a tough hurdle to jump unless they can bring their prices down considerably. They basically are asking people to pay a premium for aesthetics and at this point solar arrays are no longer considered as unattractive as they were when they first appeared.Bob Wallacenoreply@blogger.com