Solar ... In the news

Cardew

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Yep, no argument that there are some people that don't like them, and will make a fuss

Good! we have agreed on something and I have made my point.


If you want to find out the various rules, regulations on PV panels in conservation areas and listed buildings; and interpretations of those regulation in the various local authorities, I suggest you do your own research

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

Good! we have agreed on something and I have made my point.


If you want to find out the various rules, regulations on PV panels in conservation areas and listed buildings; and interpretations of those regulation in the various local authorities, I suggest you do your own research

But I didn't ask about your opinion, or your point. We are all perfectly aware how strongly you feel about PV and FiTs.

And I didn't ask about the rules, I'm aware of them already. And listed buildings weren't even mentioned till you shoehorned in a reference earlier in one of your avoidance responses.

All I asked for (twice) was for you to support your statement (not opinion):

Cardew wrote: »

In a conservation area, many(most?) councils will not allow them on the roof of houses that are visible from the road.

Can you support/reference this statement, or am I sadly going to have to conclude that it is just more fabricated negativity? :undecided

Mart.

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Can you support/reference this statement, or am I sadly going to have to conclude that it is just more fabricated negativity? :undecided

I find that assuming that saves an awful lot of effort.

The-Joker

zeupater wrote: »

... Because the development of the market has rapidly taken the technology from being 'specialised' through to a mass production 'consumerised' product .... for example, the last 4 years have seen the number of installations in the UK grow from being measured in the hundreds, which had been installed over the previous couple of decades, to over half-a-million ....

HTH
Z

Can solar get even cheaper? Now silver is way down in price only £10 per ounce, and solar needs lots of silver.

Now that China is churning out solar panels en mass.

zeupater

The-Joker wrote: »

Can solar get even cheaper? Now silver is way down in price only £10 per ounce, and solar needs lots of silver.

Now that China is churning out solar panels en mass.

Hi

Of course they can 'get even cheaper', even using current technologies and manufacturing processes. Basically, the main materials are sand, quartz and bauxite - add a little energy and follow the recipe for each component and you have a pv panel ... yes, it's simplistic, but it really explains the issue ... the main raw materials by content are cheap, but the conversion process for the glass, frame & cells is relatively energy intensive, so cut the cost of the embedded energy and there's plenty of scope for the unit cost to fall .... for example, Saudi Arabia has plenty of bauxite and plenty of sunshine, so once an initial investment in pv or concentrated thermal has been made, the cost of aluminium smelting reduces significantly (embedded CO2 also reduces) ... large users of aluminium are already considering this option (eg JLR) ...

Regarding Silver, I doubt that it's a real issue ... as you mentioned, prices are low despite the expanding use in panels therefore it seems that there's current no supply/demand issue on the forward commodities market. Silver is mainly used for cell busbars and accounts for well under 1oz per panel, so typically somewhere below 3p/Wp. It must be recognised that some manufacturers have already identified the potential cost savings and reduced the silver content by up to 70%, with others undoubtedly actively researching the elimination of silver altogether, so there's already alternatives available to encourage further price competition ...

A final point to consider is that the Silver isn't consumed, just safely stored in the panels to be reclaimed/recycled at sometime in the future ...

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

Well ..... we've all been pondering it, as PV subsidies close in on on-shore wind, but what does the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change think?

Ed Davey: Solar will become ‘cheapest form of energy’

DECC secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Davey has said that he is “absolutely convinced” the falling costs of solar will make it the cheapest form of energy available in the coming years.

“The truth is the strong case for investing in solar, in renewables more generally, it’s still there, whether it’s the climate change issue and energy security, whether it’s on costs that are coming down. It would be crazy for the UK not to be at the forefront of that energy revolution.”

‘Solar century’ beckons as costs continue to fall - UK energy secretary

Davey said solar had been the “leading example” of how concerted effort can bring the costs of low carbon energy “tumbling down”.

“The people I talk to, whether they’re in financial institutions or research labs, are showing very clearly that solar costs are going to come down and down, so it will be the cheapest form of electricity, I’m absolutely convinced about that. I think that this century will be the solar century,” he said.

Mart.

Martyn1981

India to boost national solar target to 100GW by 2022 - reports

India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal has said the nation’s solar target is to be multiplied to 100GW by 2022.

According to a number of local reports, including Bloomberg and India's Economic Times, Goyal said the current National Solar Mission (JNNSM) target of 20GW by 2022 would be pushed up to 100GW.

The government will work specifically towards grid parity, making solar bankable and the industry self-sufficient.

No idea if they can or will achieve this, but boy oh boy if you're gonna aim big, why not aim really big.:T

Mart.

lstar337

DECC secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Davey has said that he is “absolutely convinced” the falling costs of solar will make it the cheapest form of energy available in the coming years.

Not at night it wont be.

KevinG

lstar337 wrote: »

Not at night it wont be.

That's just a storage issue.

lstar337

KevinG wrote: »

That's just a storage issue.

Which is a pretty big issue at the moment. Hopefully it can be resolved though.