[amsat-bb] HIgh efficiency solar cells for cubesats

[Peter Laws]

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:

> http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
>
>
>
> It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in
> fact, the high end only gets more expensive.  That is why those people who
> say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost
> effective.  The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a
> factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the
> cheapest.  And cheap it is!
>

People "waiting" often can't do math and so don't understand how cheap
it really is (even 10+ years ago!), but regardless, why is there no
economy of scale at the space end?  Is the efficiency just going up at
the same time?  If so, why isn't the price just staying the same while
efficiency rises?

The domestic PV is a completely different thing and now that our
friends in China are pumping cells and modules by the million
(billion?) the price just keeps dropping.

I'm not "waiting for efficiency", I'm "waiting until my roof can be
repaired" which means "waiting for money" which should mean "not
buying that IC-910H" but did not.  :-)


-- 
Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!