Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

There is a global shortage of poly-crystaline silicon, projected to last at least five years. It is estimated that in 2007-2009 the shortage will be 9000 tons a year.

Polysilicon prices have doubled in the past twenty months and are projected to increase 30% a year for the next three years. Recent prices have been as high as $500 a kilogram, 500% higher than 2004.

Solar power may not be cost effective compared to other technologies again until 2018.

Soource of information: November 21 issue of Financial Times.

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Thanks DC,

Have you heard if that has already filtered through to retail, and if so, does that make conversions uneconomical on projects of scale?

TIA

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

what company makes that , is there one on the u.s. market I can invest in.
sounds like a good thing to invest in:smile:

found this ;ink on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycrystalline_silicon

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

...exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to research.

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Most of the major polysilicon suppliers maintain affiliations with wafer suppliers, ranging from partial or complete ownership to informal alliances. This is not surprising given the importance of polysilicon to the production of wafers. Historically, many of the wafer suppliers produced polysilicon captively to ensure a steady supply. Major suppliers of polysilicon are Advanced Silicon Materials Inc. (North America, acquired by Renewable Energy Corporation), Hemlock Semiconductor (North America), MEMC Electronic Materials (North America), Mitsubishi Materials Polycrystalline Silicon (North America), Tokuyama Corporation (Japan) and Wacker (Germany).

Electronic Materials inc. symbol is WFR

HERES THE LINK TO WHAT IS ABOVE
SEMI - Market Information

GLW looks like good one, here is the link corning http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/02/mark..._glw/index.htm

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

i don't know where i heard this maybe on tv in the last couple of days
there is a company who makes solar panels with only half the amount of silicon
i forgot the name of the company unfortunatlly.
there is research in non-silicon alternatives aswell

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

i've seen mention of that too, it's using copper rather than silicon i think. there is some german company doing research into this...i'll try to dig out a link i think i saved.

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

seems like copper is the main alternative to silicon for solar cells. or Copper indium gallium selenide, to be more precise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovo...bing_materials

this is a company in germany about to produce CIS cells this way (due to production in about 2 months, i read elsewhere)

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Posted about three weeks ago on GIM:

Solar Power Made Affordable
By Shannara Johnson

In a speech this year, President Bush said we'd have to get rid of
"our addiction to Middle East oil." Now one man in South Africa seems
to have taken a big step in that direction�at least when it comes to
heating homes.

A team of scientists led by Professor Vivian Alberts of the University
of Johannesburg announced a huge breakthrough in solar technology
early this year: They developed solar panels that can provide heat and
electricity for a whole house�at a fraction of the cost of
conventional solar devices.

"In a perfect world," explains an article in Science in Africa, an
online science magazine, "a silicon-based photo voltaic cell can
convert roughly 25% of the incipient solar energy it receives into
electricity. . . the rest of the solar radiation is either too high or
too low intensity to do anything. In reality, only 15% (under optimal
conditions) of incipient solar energy is harnessed by the cell."

With Professor Alberts' invention, this output becomes much larger.
Whereas a typical solar panel uses silicon slabs more than 350 microns
thick because of its poor absorption properties, the new panels, which
contain no silicon, operate with a 5-micron film�a quarter of the
thickness of a human hair. They use normal window glass and are much
more efficient than the old panels; so much so that they don't even
require direct sunlight to produce significant power. The panels based
on this alloy will have a working life of about 20 years.

Through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the
wiring of the house. And with a price that will be less than a third
of a normal solar panel, gaining power from sunlight will become a
viable option for many more homeowners than it is now.

"With batteries, invertors and power management systems. . . the
system will pay itself off in about 1 year," states Science in Africa.
"For a more energy-thirsty system, it would take about 2 to 3 years
and after that, a household would be looking at 17 years of just about
free energy."

The South Africans plan to begin manufacturing the new, inexpensive
panels in 2007. However, their German partner company, IFE Solar
Systems, one of the world leaders in solar energy, has already started
and will produce 500,000 panels before the end of this year.

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Just went to IFE Solar Systems website,
it's all in German. Does anyone know
of an English website?

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

I just visited the German IFE website and if you click English in the upper right hand corner of the website you will see the website in English.

Here is the linkhttp://www.ife-net.de/en/index.php

Their latest news release which is in PDF format talks about the thin film solar. The new technology which is based on copper, indium, gallium, sulfide and selenium (CIGSSe) is the next generation of thin film solar technology.

I hope this helps.:coolbeer:

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

They are Solar Intensifiers...

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au...ndTracking.jpg

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Thanks! I was at a different site, this one works better :beer:

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Thin Film Solar has a much shorter service life than crystaline panels, not as durable, can't handle the heat.

But if it is water cooled .... ?

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

Hey all,

I'm looking at buying 3 solar panels 15 watts ea = 45 watts for $200.

A 400 watt inverter will be $25.

I want to have at least something for an emergency even if it's only 45 watts.

I'm buying from Harbor Freight. Usually they seem to have the cheapest prices but everything always seems to be generic lower quality equipment.

Advice please before I go ahead? Are prices going up or down? Are cheap panels a mistake?

Thanks!

Re: Solar Equipment Prices to Skyrocket
 

As a general rule solar panels are $5 a watt. I would NOT buy the Harbor Freight panels though. Almost half the merchandise I've purchased from them I've had to return. All very poor quality Chinese stuff.

Instead, search "solar" in Greensheet and ebay. Nothing wrong with buying used brand name panels. Watch out, they sell fast!