[amsat-bb] HIgh efficiency solar cells for cubesats

[Jerry Buxton]

The ones we use on the Fox-1 satellites are 28.3%, BOL.  I have no idea
what a typical home solar panel can do.  And I don't know if Bob has
something newer and more efficient in his hands.

Jerry Buxton, NØJY

On 8/31/2016 13:22, dougphelps at ameritech.net wrote:
> What is the efficiency of a $500 space solar panel versus the efficiency of a home solar panel?
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
>  
>   On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruninga<bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:   We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per
> watt.
>
>
>
> For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar
> panels now down to 30 cents a watt.  So I plotted it:
>
> 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!
>
>
>
> Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size.
> The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation
> (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
>
>
>
> Bob, WB4APR
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