1. What causes solar panels expensive?
(1) Materials cost, the main materials of solar panels are silicon and other silver, copper, zinc and other metal materials, this silicon are required to carry out high-strength processing for high-purity silicon, solar panels contain monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon, each type of material has a different impact on the cost of solar panels.
(2) Installation cost, different companies have different requirements for installation, some companies have an integrated process of sale and installation, but there are companies do not provide installation services, you need to look for additional installation department, no matter how to install solar panels alone need to pay for the process separately, and the cost of installation according to the labor cost of the different rates around the different standards.
(3) research and development, the current stage of solar manufacturing and installation of more mature, but less than 30% conversion efficiency for energy use is too low, the future of solar power is necessary to take the initiative, in order to ensure that the idea of solar panels must be a breakthrough in the efficiency of the function, the technology is difficult to lead to the necessity of investing a lot of money in scientific research, which is the fundamental driving force of the development of solar energy.
(4) battery packs cost, solar power is always closely related to power storage, now lithium battery storage capacity is high but the price of lithium batteries is very high, solar power system in the cost of the battery occupies nearly 50%, how to reduce the cost of batteries is an effective solution to the cost of solar energy is too high.
(5) inverters and other equipment cost, solar panels are never alone solar panels, in order to ensure that solar energy can be safely converted to household electricity, solar power system must contain solar inverters, solar battery and other equipment, such as the installation of solar racking requirements for the strength of the racking itself to put the corrosion outside the house itself needs to be reinforced and waterproofing, which also increases the cost of solar panels.
(6) Regulatory compliance and licensing costs, any region of the installation and use of solar energy have corresponding regulations, especially grid-connected solar energy, to obtain qualified certificates and permits to pay a certain fee.
2. Cost-saving tips for solar energy
(1) Do-it-yourself, for the installation of solar panels although most people choose to look for a professional installation team, but it is true that you can choose to install it yourself, it may not sound very novice friendly, but many wholesalers will provide customers with complete and detailed instructions on the installation, for the better service merchants you can always contact them to raise your questions on the installation, the installation is not really difficult.
(2) Tax incentive programs, if you are too excited that you will inevitably forget this, for the United Kingdom, the United States and other recommended solar installation areas will provide users with the purchase of solar panels tax exemption, you need to rely on the purchase of invoices to get a rebate in the local, in the United Kingdom can be up to 30% of the tax exemption.
3. How much does it cost to install solar panels for an average customer?
For different types of households the monthly electricity consumption is different, the average household electricity consumption in the United States is about 1100kwh per month, however, to meet the average user’s electricity needs to install a 10kw solar system, only counting the cost of the equipment is about $ 5500, of course, other solar systems you can also understand: 3kw need about $ 1800, 5kw need about $ 2800, 15kw need about $ 7500, and the solar system can also understand: 3kw need about $ 1800, 5kw need about $ 2800, and 15kw need about $ 7500. USD around $1800 for 3kw, $2800 for 5kw, $7500 for 15kw, $11000 for 20kw, and around $17000 for 30kw.
Conclusion
Although solar panels are more expensive now it is a long term investment that will eventually pay back and the price of solar panels is gradually decreasing, the price of solar panels is decreasing in all aspects of technological breakthroughs will reduce the cost, such as the Calcium-Titanium solar panels, and I believe that when the technology becomes more mature it will be possible to make solar panels available to everyone.
