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At $1 per Watt, the iTunes of Solar Energy Has Arrived
by David Sassoon - Dec 19th, 2007
in
A Silicon Valley start-up called Nanosolar shipped its first solar panels -- priced at $1 a watt. That's the price at which solar energy gets cheaper than coal. Curious that this story is not on every front page.
Still, to commemorate the achievement, Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen (pictured) is reserving the first three commercially-viable panels. One is staying on display at company HQ; one has been donated to San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation. And the other is was on sale on e-bay.
Starting price? 99 cents.
12/26 update: But then an officious nincompoop at the online auction company stopped the auction.
So far, there have been 83 bids and the price has reached $10,300. The auction is over on December 27th at 17:13:10 PST. We know the heavy hitters won't even show up until 17:12:40.
How did Nanosolar make this breakthrough?
While other companies have been focusing their efforts on increasing the efficiency of solar panels, Nanosolar took a different approach. It focused on manufacturing. Here's what it says on the company's home page:
Nanosolar has developed proprietary process technology that makes it possible to produce 100x thinner solar cells 100x faster.
Essentially, they've figured out how to print solar cells on thin sheets of aluminum with a printing press.
This could be a big nail in the dirty coal coffin. Remember a few weeks ago Google announced its RE<C initiative, to develop renewable energy that's cheaper than coal? Here's one Google investment that is already paying off. Other developments worth noting:
- IBM's top manufacturing executive has joined Nanosolar
- The company raised $100 million to build a factory, and has secured more than 600,000 feet of manufacturing space.
- It already has orders for the first 18 months of manufacturing capacity
For more details on what Nanosolar is calling The Third Wave of Solar Power, check out their web site and discussion of 7 areas of innovation they've mastered.
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Thanks for that post ;)
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In Europe they had been a
In Europe they had been a lot more energy conscious for many years now, in the US we are just beginning to realize our addiction to big cars and big homes have consequences.
Thin film solar
So when will this hit the Home Depot / Lowes shelves? Oh, probably in another 10 years.
I contacted Nanosolar today
I contacted Nanosolar today Friday May 9, 2008 and requested the solar panels from them. The response was short and sweet... "we do not sell our panels for one-off projects."
I would contend it is safe to say that Nanosolar has sold-out to the electrical utility and oil companies. It is clear, at least to me, that the intent is to bury the technology since eBay cancelled the auction and Yahoo says the page is not found.
You are exactly right about
You are exactly right about selling out to other corporate interests and the government. Any somewhat smart person that can follow directions and who'd want to save money would order these products directly from their website and install it themselves. Nanosolar would make more money selling to individuals or to selling to local solar contractors. By them not selling to individuals, it takes away from us having control of our energy costs. It is a huge conspiracy, just like big freaking oil. We'll have to wait another 10 years before we see these being sold directly to individual consumers. By that time the devaluation of the dollar will be so bad we'll have to pay $100 per watt.
The problem is lack of
The problem is lack of investors in America.
Nanosolar is producing a 1 megawatt plant for Germany.
Just not enough interest in the US.
Perhaps the facts you guys overlook is the actual setup of these solar panels.
Did you ever look up their dimensions ?
I think it takes a HUGE amount of these to power the average house.
it's not the price that gets you.. it's the sqft needed.
That makes them most suited for solar farms.. not residential use.
with electric costs going up even conventional cells are fairly cost effective for many
Is this the end of electric bills? =)
with $1 per Watt that is actually an unbeatable price. If advertised correctly this company can grow HUGE. Imagine no more costly electric bills because companies and residential homes are using 100% solar powered efficient systems LOL.
One problem typical power
One problem typical power costs about $60-$80 per 1000 watts on the wholesale market. That is .08 cents per watt for the mix of power on the grid. Coal power typically sells for .04 cents per watt. To actually produce electricity from coal it is more like .005 cents or one half of a cent to produce a watt. I am all for solar, wind, and hydro but we all need to be willing to absorb the cost to develop these technologies. We are talking about electricity cost for the average home going form $70/month to $700/month.
Typical Power
I agree with your comment if you ingnore the externalized cost of coal on the environment and health. When these costs are factored in, then cost of solar is competitive with coal. So, your arguement on the cost of coal vs. solar, wind wave technology is like comapring apples to oranges. When you factor in the huge subsidies the coal and utility industry from the federal government, it is cheaper than coal.
If we created national or regional Indepenent Service Operator's (ISO's) which allowed business and residential producers of electricity to sell their excess capacity at market rates, then the price of solar and wind would not be much of a facort because
they would instantly start receiving a return on their investment in clean energy technology.
There would be no need for subsidies for the small producers because they would receive the same rates as the utilities for their excess capacity. The only subsidies necessary under this scenario would be for energy efficiency. Retrofitting homes and businesses with LED lighting, GEO Thermal heating and cooling and adding insulation would simultaneously reduce demand. Also, the distributed energy would be more efficient because more of it would be used at the same location as the power is being produced. This would eliminate transmission losses which account for about 10 percent of the energy loss from centralized power facilities.
Their would a significant reduction in petroleum usage associated transporting millions of tons of coal by barge, cargo ship and rail. The decentralization of power production will make our transition to electric and plugin hybrid electric vehicles easier and cleaner. Cars will become mobile power plants during peak demand periods. Whenever excess demand for power occurs, cars will pump power into the grid while parked and pluged in during the day. Smart computers in cars will sense when demand exceeds supply and sell their power into the grid through the ISO system.
I would keep arguing for coal, however, because it is the safe thing to do when people are afraid of change or new ideas that work for profit and societies well being.
just to clarify
I believe you are saying $60-$80 per MW hour.
http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/
So your math is a little bit flawed here. $1 per watt is per watt of generating capacity so for approx $5000 you could get 5 kw of panels, of course you'll need a grid tie inverter which may cost you another $5000 Depneding on the insolation in your area of the country this may be close to enough to run an average home. With many new net metering laws passed by the states you can feed energy into the grid during the daylight hours and pull energy from the grid during the evening hours. If you pay an average $100/month for electric this may be cut back to just the base monthly connection fee. So you may save say $1080 a year in electric giving a payback period under 10 years. After that the next 10 to 15 years could be free electric.
Unfortunately for this to scale it will probably take another 5 years before this technology from various companies is actually available to the consumer at these costs. Once the technology scales it looks to me like you may have the opportunity to cut your electricity costs in half.
Check out how companies are already renting solar systems because they know the breakthrough is in place and the cost of electricity is going to fall. http://www.citizenre.com/web/index.php
finally
Geez, when did I first read about this technology? was it in 1999? I think so. What took so long?
nanotube batteries
Also just read about a Mr. Chui that just filed an application for a x200 power nanotube battery... on Wired.com I think. He solved the diode problem by growing the nanotubes directly onto a metal substrate. Also, in geneomics I read that Dupont just built a plant that produces synthetic polymers that had been made from oil but is now made from genetically altered plants.
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