The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

Steven Lake
Steven Lake Solar Expert Posts: 402 ✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Attachment not found.

Stumbled onto that on Facebook and thought you guys might find it interesting. :)

EDIT: Linked actual image this time. My bad.
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  • Steven Lake
    Steven Lake Solar Expert Posts: 402 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    Okay, there ya go. Image linked directly. If it still doesn't come up, I guess I can just upload the file directly.
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  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    I was reading about this a little while back. A topic had been imported in the RSS Feeds forum.

    The costs have dropped significantly, over the years.
    Paul
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  • Steven Lake
    Steven Lake Solar Expert Posts: 402 ✭✭
    #4
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    Yes they have, and quite a lot at that. What I'm waiting for eagerly is when solar hits 25c a watt and 40% efficiency. Will that be in my lifetime? Eh, maybe. They've made some interesting leaps in solar technology of late. I think one guy said that with what's out there in the early experimental and theoretical world, if they can convert that to usable, easily and cheaply manufactured systems with good operational life, then we can pretty much kiss all non-green energy tech goodbye. :)
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  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    with prices this low,< $1 / Watt, there is little incentive to invest in higher efficiency processes. The machinery needed is tres expensive...
     
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  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013
    Steven Lake wrote: »
    Yes they have, and quite a lot at that. What I'm waiting for eagerly is when solar hits 25c a watt and 40% efficiency. Will that be in my lifetime? Eh, maybe.

    Quite a young lad, aren't ya? And a hopeless optimist as well, I see. :D
    Paul
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  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013
    Steven Lake wrote: »
    What I'm waiting for eagerly is when solar hits 25c a watt and 40% efficiency. Will that be in my lifetime? Eh, maybe.

    Depends... how old are you? Seriously though, it may be sooner than we think... Moore's law may apply to RE technology. --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
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  • Steven Lake
    Steven Lake Solar Expert Posts: 402 ✭✭
    #8
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    @ILFE, better a hopeless optimist than a perpetual pessimist. Life is more fun on this side of the fence. ;)

    @vtmaps, I'm hoping it does. According to the graphic above, even though it's not following Moore's law exactly, it's coming along nicely.

    @westbranch, well, that's the funny thing about processes. As vtmaps mentioned, Moore's law may apply to this in some degree, and if that's true, the processes that are too expensive now will become reasonable enough in a very short amount of time. That seems to be true of everything. If it weren't, we'd still be stuck with horses and steam engines. Or at least rocks and sticks. lol. :P
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    Curiously the first 'steam' engine, the Newcomen atmospheric engine, was dreadfully inefficient and didn't catch on. Relegated to museums of science, a young curator happen to see an example of this failure and immediately recognized what was wrong.

    And so we now have Watts of power and not Newcomens. :D
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  • Steven Lake
    Steven Lake Solar Expert Posts: 402 ✭✭
    #10
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    Exactly! What's not possible now, given the right person, can become possible in the future. Heck, 200 years ago our ancestors were riding horses to work. Now we're flying to distant planets, and soon to distant stars. :D
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  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    #11
    Re: The Swanson Effect - Solar Panel Prices 1977-2013

    I wouldn't mind going back to steam engines and horses...



























    ... with .20c / watt solar panels. :D
    Paul
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