[amsat-bb] Waiting for Solar Panel Efficiency (Ha!)

[Lizeth Norman]

If the project is not operating by now, it'll cost 30% more after midnight.

Whether or not solar is cost effective is a function of what you want.

Putting solar on an asphalt roof (ask me how many square of
architectural shingles I've laid) is a bad idea. Roof costs 10-15k.
This is a significant portion (more than 1/4 of the total cost). Not a
place to screw up.

Putting 100+ penetrations in a membrane and keeping the warranty was
my issue. Not gonna happen. Trouble ahead. PERIOD.

42 panels 50 lbs per (really 48, but back of the envelope math..) not
including the racking for 11.34 kW (11 kW AC)

Remember statics and dynamics??

Can you say PE??? Can you pay $$$$$$$$$$. Who is going to do that
work? Sistering and bracing rafters in a crawlspace is a mug's game.
In Florida in summer? Fatal.

Called Direct Power and Water. Nice to chat with an engineer who is interested.

Pics on Flicr.

Today as of 3pm EDT the system produced  23 kWh. Best day so far was
100% FL sunshine and a COLD day: 82 kWh.

Final step was optimization of the house. Crawling around in the attic
sealing ducts, running cat6 and pullling cable then putting 18" of
blown in pink fiberglass.... blah, blah, bla, blah.

HF RFI? Undetectable. HP 853a/8557/some amplified HP probe and 6" of
wire sees someone's grow lights.  Killed all breakers in the house to
check if it was my problem..

I got the last (3) 3.8kW transformer based inverters in stock. SMA
makes nice gear. Cadwelds, IMC 3/4" conduit.

Hired a welder, auger operator, and crane. I worked as fitter, grunt and oiler.

DIY end to end otherwise.

Busy, busy, busy...

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 12:25 PM, Bob <WB4SON at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sort of off the AMSAT topic, but the most recent estimate is that about 20
> gigawatts of solar will be added in 2016 -- almost doubling the total
> installed capacity of US solar power.  This is being primarily driven by
> residential installations.  Utility-scale installations are actually down
> 5%.
>
> One thing that was keeping mass market efficiency down was a glut of
> production capability that existed through 2014.  Manufactures were not
> keen on investing in new processes at the same time they were going out of
> business or consolidating.  That glut has been drying up, prompting Elon
> Musk's to build a $1 billion dollar factory in Buffalo NY which will
> produce 1 GW of panels annually by the end of 2016.  Those panels are
> expected to be 22.1% efficient.  That's a pretty impressive gain in
> efficiency.
>
> Often times market conditions, not technology, dictates what reaches the
> mass market, and that has most certainly been the case in the solar
> industry.  That 50% increase in panel efficiency doesn't necessarily mean
> that the cost per watt will be reduced in the short term -- those panels
> may simply sell for 50% more.
>
> 73, Bob, WB4SON
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 6:07 AM, Nick Pugh <quadpugh at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>> Good point Bob but include the real estate cost  in to the equation and
>> they improve.
>> nick
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert
>> Bruninga
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 11:06 AM
>> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
>> Subject: [amsat-bb] Waiting for Solar Panel Efficiency (Ha!)
>>
>> Compare the cost and efficiency of solar panels for cubesats and for your
>> house:
>>
>> http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/efficiency-comparison-cost.png
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
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