Ground based Solar energy

[nexium]

Roof top may be best, because of low transmission loss to the appliences in the house and to neighboring houses. Some home owners will accept the 20 cents per kilowatt hour, because they have partial back up when the utility fails. So far the utilities have mostly pretended to be cooperative. <br />I suggest each utility sponcer a club of home experimenters, with formal instruction on what will likely be practical and what likely will not be practical. <br />Most homes and most commercial buildings have less than 100 square meters of steep South facing roof. Assuming 100 square meters and 100 watts per square meter, we can hope for 10 kw, which will run anything a home owner typically has, but not all of them simultainiously. ie If your central heat pump is running, you should not turn on your electric cloths dryer nor several burners on your electric stove. You may need to turn off all the large loads to get your heat pump started as it draws about a 10 kw starting surge. This is no problem if the utility is operating and connected as it will make up the kw shortfall. Best of all, when you produce more than you are using, most electric meters turn backwards and credit you at retail price for the electric you supplied to your neighbors. Most of the day your utility can make or buy kw for less than the retail price they charge you, so this will be a loss to the utility, but they can afford it as comparatively few of us will actually do this for an extended period. It is good PR that only cost the utility a few hundred dollars per month, in June and July.<br />In June and the first part of July about 1 pm , your 100 square meter system will supply more than 10 kw to the utility, if it is a bright sunny day and you are using very little power. For safety reasons, the utility may insist that you not supply them more than 10 kw. ie when a technican turns off the power, and connects the shorting bar, 10 to 20 kw does produce a nasty arc, but it does shut down your system. Th

 

[nuaetius]

From what I have been reading coating based solar cells are already being mass produced for commercial aplications at a 100w per meter effecency. If the price point for these products stays static then you very well might be able to install a solar roof for less than 50% more than your standard tar shingle roof, with the bonus of generating all the power you would need during the winter if you use Oil or Gas heat. Good times

 

[kelvinzero]

This should be moved to Technology forum. Docm posted something there just recently, about 30c/watt solar panels going into production next year. <br /><br />http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tech&Number=824838