Manufacturing
July 7, 2011
BYD is China’s biggest producer of Electric Vehicles and Lithium Ion batteries.The Company was made famous when Warren Buffet bought a 10% stake in the company,one of his biggest Foreign Investments.China has become the dominant leader in Solar Manufacturing from being an nobody in a short span of 5 years.Chinese producers are going to produce about 60% of the global supply this year led by companies like Solarfun,Trina Solar,Yingli Green and Suntech.BYD too has decided to throw its hat into the ring with a big bang investment.There remain little details about the $3.3 Billion Solar Investment over 5 years for which it has already gotten the financing.The company is planning to spend 22.5 Billion Yuan on Solar Energy over the next 5 years for which it has already secured financing.The company has started a 100 MW cell plant in the Shaanxi province and plans to expand to 5000 MW by 2015.BYD signed a $300 million polysilicon supply contract with LDK Solar (another Chinese solar producer).This is a huge supply contract considering the 2 year time frame.Though wafer and polysilicon prices have recently become slightly constrained recently,there is no scope for the massive shortages seen in 2008.
July 7, 2011
Solar Panel Stocks have fallen off a cliff in 2011 driven by a massive oversupply in solar modules.The 2010 boom in solar energy demand led to rapid expansion by hundreds of established as well as new solar panel suppliers.This has led to a big increase in solar cell capacity.The demand in 2011 has not been enough to compensate for the massive increase in supply.Many of the higher cost companies in Western markets have already closed down operations with the news of a solar company closing down becoming a daily affair.The last time the wave of solar bankruptcies occured was during the 2008 Lehman crisis.At that time a few of the thin film companies had gone belly up as polysilicon prices had crashed.The sharp drop in solar panel stock provides a good time to enter the solar space as the valuations are at a historical low.Many of the solar panel stocks currently are being priced at a fraction of their sales and book value as the market expects almost every company to shut down.However solar demand is growing as the declining costs of solar energy is its biggest advantage.Also solar power growth is being vastly underestimated by policymakers and analysts.This short term pain is great as it provides a once in a lifetime oppurtunity to buy the solar panel leaders.
July 7, 2011
Solara Solar Panels are manufactured by German Solar Company Centrosolar which sells PV Systems and Solar Panels under the Solara Brand Name.Centrosolar is one of the biggest solar installers and EPC companies in Europe.The company sells both polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar modules since 2006.Solara Solar Panels are sold in a number of countries with distributors like ARRID Power,12V shop selling it in Australia and Barden,Bright Green Energy selling the panels in UK.Solar Solar Panels are Semi Flexibile Marine Solar Modules which are specifically manufactured for use on boats, life rafts, caravans. electric cars and many other mobile applications.
CentroSolar is a listed photovoltaic company on the DAX which makes mounting systems and solar panels. The company makes PV-systems, modules made of crystalline cells and thin film technology, building-integrated PV-installations, inverters, roof-mounted and roof-integrated mounting systems as well as low-iron solar glass with an anti-reflective coating.CENTROSOLAR has its own PV-module production facility in Wismar (Germany) and a solar glass production site in Furth (Germany)
July 7, 2011
Solar Cells are the basic building blocks of Soar Panels and it is unlikely that most people will have to buy them or even know about […]
July 7, 2011
Photovoltaic Module demand has increased by more than 50% each year in the last decade as solar panel costs have gone down sharply by almost 80% in the last 4 years alone as scale and technology have improved.Photovoltaic Modules are a combination of solar cells which generate electricity when light strikes them.Photovoltaic is the name given to this process where electrons are released when photo or light transfer its energy to the solar cells.The following article covers a large amount of literature on Photovoltaic Modules from its costs to selling prices as well as the efficiency of the Photovoltaic Module which affects the Energy Output.There are hundreds of Photovoltaic Module Manufacturers but only a few major ones.There are reviews on the major Photovoltaic Module Suppliers and Market as well.
July 6, 2011
SunForce is a good marketer and distributor of solar and wind energy products,however it is not a manufacturer of these products.Buying Solar Panels from Sharp does not make too much sense as Sharp Solar Panels are expensive and on top of that you have to pay a margin to SunForce as well.SunForce Foldable and CIGs Thin Film 12V Solar Products also don't list a manufacturer nor do their solar inverters.SunForce does not look like the type of company who could make a technologically advanced products like a CIGs Solar Panels.You are better off buying charge controllers and solar panels directly from manufacturers rather than using SunForce.For some Solar Battery Kits SunForce might make sense as they have a good distribution.
July 6, 2011
Polycrystalline silicon or Polysilicon( poly-Si or "poly") is a material consisting of multiple small silicon crystals.The difference between Silicon Metal and Polysilicon is that Poly is highly pure form of silicon and is much costlier.Polycrystalline silicon can be as much as 99.9999% pure (also known as 4N pure,the 4 denotes the number of 9s after the decimal point).Polysilicon was primarily used by the semi industry till 5-6 years ago and the electronic industry used 9N pure polysilicon.The Solar Industry which has become the main user of polysilicon nowadays can do with 6N pure poly.
Polysilicon is refined to single crystal polysilicon before it can be used by the semiconductor industry.However solar cells can be made even from multicrystalline polysilicon.Monocrystalline solar cells on the other hand are made of single crystal polysilicon and have higher efficiency than those made from multicrystalline polysilicon.Polycrystalline cells can be recognized by a visible grain, a “metal flake effect”. Semiconductor grade (also solar grade) polycrystalline silicon is converted to "single crystal" silicon – meaning that the randomly associated crystallites of silicon in "polycrystalline silicon" are converted to a large "single" crystal.
July 6, 2011
New Solar Panels and New Scientific Breakthroughs in Solar Technology it seems are reported every month.But Solar Energy is still not competitive with Fossil Fuel Energy despite its obvious advantages.The costs of Solar Energy are declining quickly but they remain still some way from being on par with the dirty forms of energy like Coal.The reason for all these new exciting technologies which are reported in newspaper not being able to bring a fundamental change in the energy scenario is that the costs are too high.Bringing a new solar panel technology from the lab to the factory takes a lot of time and effort.During this time the incumbent technology like crystalline solar technology keeps advancing due to the massive global R&D dollars that are spend and the rising scale.This had made many new startups in solar technology like Solyndra ,Spectrawatt and others bite the dust.You can read about the large number of solar failures in the first wave of thin film solar bankruptcies .
July 6, 2011
A solar array can be defined as solar panels arranged in a group to capture maximum amount of sun light to convert it into usable electricity. The idea of Solar Array came into being when it was conceived that the power produced by a solar panels singly was not sufficient for domestic or commercial purpose. Many such solar modules are linked together to form a Solar Array. Solar panels can be arranged differently to form different patterns to suit ones purpose. Depending upon what the need is, different structures can be build. Generally there are two traditional styles of solar energy panels used in residential and industrial areas -photovoltaic and photothermal energy. Most solar arrays to date have been a mixture of these two. Because it is relatively low-tech, solar arrays are a very cost effective approach for people who believe in DIY technology.
July 6, 2011
Solar Shingles are niche solar products meant for use on roofs of houses.There are not a lot of manufacturers of solar shingles as they are a new product and more difficult to install than standard silicon solar panels.Solar Shingles are manufactured by mainly American companies like Dow,Energy Conversion Devices.Their high costs and lack of easy availability has meant that solar shingles have not really caught the imagination of the customers.Also Solar Shingles do not get any added subsidy from the government vis a vis Solar Panels.Thus the higher prices of electricity generated from solar shingles means that they have become a poorer cousin of the mainstream Solar Panels.Also Solar Integrators are more accustomed to buying and installing solar panels which makes it even more difficult to push the sale of solar shingles.
July 6, 2011
Solar Tracker is a Device which follows the movement of the sun as it rotates from the east to the west every day.Solar Trackers are used to keep solar collectors/solar panels oriented directly towards the sun as it moves through the sky every day.Using Solar Trackers increases the amount of solar energy which is recieved by the solar energy collector and improves the energy output of the heat/electricity which is generated.Solar Trackers can increase the output of Solar Panels by 20-30% which improves the economics of the solar panel project.
Solar Trackers are mostly used in ground mounted solar farms of capacity more than 1 MW.Note it is difficult to use solar trackers on residential rooftop installations.Horizontal single axis trackers are typically used for large distributed generation projects and utility scale projects. The combination of energy improvement and lower product cost and lower installation complexity results in compelling economics in large deployments.However for solar ground plants where area is not a problem,solar trackers can be easily be used.Also commercial and utility solar projects have dedicated maintainance teams which can easily repair and monitor solar trackers.The 20-30% increase in output easily compensates for the higher costs associated with solar trackers.Note Solar Trackers are especially useful in case of places where the solar insolation is high and the efficiency of the solar panels being used are high.Sunpower which makes the highest efficiency solar panels uses Solar Trackers in most of its ground mounted plants and sells solar trackers under its own brand.These days solar trackers are becoming increasingly important and major solar panel manufacturers like First Solar and Trina Solar are selling solar trackers as well.The selection of tracker type is dependent on many factors including installation size, electric rates, government incentives, land constraints, latitude, and local weather.
July 6, 2011
Solar Frontier is a Japanese company which was earlier known as Showa Shell Solar .The company joined the rank of major solar companies once it started the new 900MW “Kunitomi” production plant in Miyazaki.Note only is the company started big in production,it is rapidly signing deals around the globe in India,Middle East and America..The Company has recently signed Two Deals with 2 Global Heavyweights GE and IBM.It has signed a distribution deal with GE to sells its Copper Indium Selenide (CIS) Panels in USA while GE would provides the Balance of Systems components like inverters etc.It next signed a deal with IBM to jointly develop Copper Zinc Tin Sulfure Selenium (CZTS) Thin Film Technology.Note IBM is one of the biggest Technology Innovators and Solar Frontier has a long Thin Film History.
July 6, 2011
What is a Solar Cell
A solar cell is an electrical device that converts light energy directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect.Note Solar Cells can be made of many materials like Silicon,Cadmium Tellerium,CIGS and even on Organic Substrates.However almost 90% of the Solar Cells produced in the world currently are made of crystalline silicon.The drastic fall in prices of silicon solar cells has seen an explosive growth in demand with solar cell supply increasing by almost 50% per year in the last decade.
July 6, 2011
Solar Thin Film Technology has been growing rapidly despite falling costs of the mainstream Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon Technology.While the current solar supply glut has resulted in some of the thin film solar film companies going out of business,big thin film suppliers continue with their growth plan.Solar Thin Film Technology is supposed to be the 2nd Generation successor to the mainstream Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) Technology which accounts for around 85% of world production.While a number of Weaker Hands in Thin Film have downed shutters,Thin Film Producers continue to grow and expand.The massive growth potential of Solar Energy makes it possible for both of these PV technologies to flourish.Thin Film Technology unlike c-Si has a number of variants.Amorphous Silicon (a-Si),Copper Indium Gallium Sulphide (CIGs) and Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) are the 3 main types of Thin Film Technology.There are a number of manufacturers of all of these 3 types of Technology.CIGs Technology is said to have the most potential in improving efficiency and competing with c-Si,however Cd-Te is currently the top dog as the world’s biggest solar producer First Solar currently uses this technology.a-Si Technology is not that hot with low efficiencies however Oerlikon and Sharp are pushing ahead with developing this technology.
July 6, 2011
Kaneka is a Japanese company which is present in a number of product categories like chemicals,functional and expandable plastic products, foodstuffs, life science products and synthetic fibers.However the main focus of the company is in Thin Film Solar Panels.Kaneka has been developing amorphous silicon thin film technology since 1980 and has advanced manufacturing into developing higher efficiency tandem microcrystalline silicon solar panels.The company also sells transperant see through solar panels.Note Thin Film Technology is facing existential threat from the rapid price reduction in the mainstream crystalline silicon technology which comprises about 85% of the global solar panel market.Kaneka sells its solar modules under the HYBRID brand name which refers to its hybrid tandem thin film silicon technology.Note other companies like Sanyo,Mitsubishi.Oerlikon have also developed this form of technology which gives higher efficiency solar panels as it captures a bigger part of the solar spectrum.
July 6, 2011
Solar Power in Australia has grown massively in 2010 and 2011 driven by state feed in tariffs also known as the solar bonus scheme or solar credits.This has resulted in the capacity limits being reached and most of the state solar subsidy schemes have been withdrawn (see the current state feed-in-tariff schemes below).However the Australian federal government is still offering the Renewable Energy Credit Scheme under which solar power generated is eligible to get solar credits which can be solar in the open market for cash.This will still drive the use of solar energy as the falling prices of chinese solar panels has made solar energy near electricity price parity in a number of places.Australia which gets a lot of sunshine is ideal for solar energy which promotes climate change mitigation as well besides reducing pollution.Australia has the highest average solar radiation of any continent in the world, which means solar industry has the greatest potential.
July 6, 2011
Solar Panels are sold by hundreds of companies around the world ranging from small to very large and comes in various shapes and sizes as well.Besides this solar panels are also made of very different materials for example silicon solar panels and thin film solar panels.So comparing solar panels and choosing a solar panel is a very difficult process if you want the best solar panel according to your need.The most efficiency solar panels are needed in cases where the land area or rooftop area is at a premium.Note a typical 200-250 watt solar panel requires an area of 60x38 inches which means an area of around 2000 square inches.1 megawatt of solar panels would require an area of between 5-10 acres of land depending on the efficiency of the solar panels.However this can be reduced by using solar trackers which can increase the output of solar panels though they to increase the area requirement slightly.Also the area also depends on the location of the place since a place recieving high sunlight for example California would require lesser area for generating the same amount of electricity compared to London (upto 30% fewer solar panels).Note solar panels with higher efficiency have a higher price tag associated with them since they require higher cost to manufacture.The most efficiency solar panels which are used in spacecraft and have a efficiency of around 35-40% may cost upto 100 times more than the normal silicon solar panel.
July 6, 2011
Types of Solar Panels Explained (Amorphous,Polycrystalline,Monocrystalline with Efficiency) for Home
Types of Solar Panels have increased manifold with the surging global solar demand fueled by falling prices of solar panels/modules.Note Solar Panels prices would have fallen by around 75% in 3 years which is a record for any energy let alone solar energy.This has made Solar Electricity on par with Electricity prices in a number of places globally.The number of manufacturers of solar panels too has increased drastically particuarly in China and Asia.The range of technologies being used to made solar panels has also increased in tandem.However polyscrystalline silicon solar panels continues to be the king of solar panels accounting for a lion's share of solar panels produced globally (around 75% according to my estimates).Each Solar Panel Technology differs from others in terms of efficiency and price.They also differ in their electricity production capabilities depending on temperature.They also differ in weight and flexibility.The Sizes of Solar Panels are also quite different and different powered solar panels are required for different applications.For a small power need like charging a mobile phone only a 5-20 watt solar panel would do while for powering a solar house you would need a number of 200-300 watt solar panels.
July 6, 2011
The ET Solar Group was founded in 2007.The company is relatively small compared to the biggest solar panel producers like Yingli,Suntech as its capacity is one/fifth the size of these big panel producers.It is more comparable to small Chinese solar companies like CEEG Solar,Eging and Sunlink..ET Solar is a quasi vertically integrated solar equipment manufacturer with presence in Europe, North America and Australia. ET Solar iis not fully integrated like LDK,Yinglie which makes polysilicon as well.However it does make silicon ingot, wafer, cell, module and a variety of BoS component products. ET Solar offers high-quality modules, inverter, tracker, BIPV, PV Kit and other solar products in more than 50 countries and regions in the whole world. Worldwide more than 500MW projects are already finished.The company is not publicly listed but is funded from Private Equity Sources.In these tough conditions it is questionable whether ET Solar can survive as it is not a Tier 1 producer.ET Solar has a good presence in the UK and Australian Markets.However Australian Solar Power Industry has seen a number of solar panel producers entering the industry and there are good alternatives available from Trina and Suntech
July 6, 2011
Solar Panels are now available from hundreds of different manufacturers using different technologies like crystalline Silicion,CIGs and Cd-Te.The Solar Panels Efficiency also varies a lot depending on the solar panel manufacturer and the technology used.The cost of the solar panel can also vary a lot depending on the retailer,size of the solar panel,technology and the brand.This makes buying solar panels a confusing problem though most residential and commercial buyers are not involved leaving the decision to the solar installer/EPC company.Sunpower is a US company which makes the most efficient solar panels using its monocrystalline solar cell technology which gives efficiency of more than 24%.The company sells black solar panels with efficiency of 18-20% .The company is a solar system integrator and developer as well building some of the largest solar farms in the US.The company was recently bought by the French Oil Giant Total.Sunpower operates in all the main segments of the market and has reputation for selling some of the highest quality solar panels in the country.
July 6, 2011
First Solar is going to the biggest producer of solar panels in the world despite having a solar panel technology which differs from almost all of its competitors.First Solar Solar Panels use Cadmium-Tellurium Thin Film Solar Technology while the majority of the Solar Industry uses Crystalline Silicon Technology.Despite the difference First Solar is the most valued solar stock in the world and has been for a long time.Despite stiff competition from the silicon technology and most of the thin film companies going bankrupt,First Solar has managed to hold on cutting costs and improving yields continuously.In fact First Solar Solar Panels have the lowest cost of production in the world.First Solar Solar Panels efficiency has also increased in the last few years such that First Solar is now targeting commercial segments of the market.Note First Solar earlier used to sell solar panels mostly to developers and utilities to build ground mounted solar panel farms where the lower efficiency of the Cd-Te solar panels did not matter.The reason is that in large solar farms space and area constraints are not there unlike in rooftops where the space is a major issue.
July 6, 2011
Solar Power in India is generating huge excitement with falling prices of Solar Power and government incentives under the JNNSM.However Subsidy of Home and Small Commercial Solar Energy Systems has not been big enough.Unlike Western Countries which are shifting their government subsidies towards smaller solar rooftop systems,the Indian government is supporting even larger solar panel plants.This will lead to only large investors,utilities and companies being left in the fray and lead to lesser competition.Also there is no support for rooftop solar which will help to broad base the reach of solar energy.A Policy which helps distributed solar like Germany will do much more to boost solar in the country than supporting massive solar plants that will only help large companies making the most of the taxpayer subsidies..Note Delhi is the only state in India which is giving primacy to rooftop solar systems and is in the process of announcing a capital subsidy soon.The reason may be that Delhi mostly consists of urban homes and they have little option.However there is a subsidy available for small home solar power systems though it is difficult to get and only possible for large corporates till now.
July 6, 2011
Germany till a couple of years was the home of the biggest solar panel manufacturers in the world.This was driven mainly by the German Renewable Energy Law (EEG) which is the most successful renewable energy subsidy in the world.The German Solar Market has become the biggest in the world for the last 2-3 years and an estimated 25 GW of solar panels would have been installed in Germany.Capitalizing on a large domestic market a number of solar companies like Q-Cells,Solarworld,Solon and others became the biggest in the world.However the rise of the Chinese solar panel manufactures has made these companies shrink with some of them like Q-Cells facing questions of survival.The prices of the Chinese solar panels has become lower than the costs of the German made solar modules putting the economic viability of the German solar panels in question.Though the quality of the German made solar panels is higher and some of the best solar panels in the world are produced by the Germans,the price differential has meant that Chinese have captured almost 70% of the global solar panel market leaving little for the German solar panel companies.The Italian Feed in Tariff Law Contio Energia 3 has given somewhat of a boost to the German solar panel makers as it gives higher subsidies for solar projects,farms using European based modules.However German solar panel producers are in a secular decline with most of them shifting their factories to Asia.Q-Cells and Bosch have set up big solar manufacturing facilities in Malaysia while Solarworld is doing so in the US.Another Big European Solar Producer REC is closing its factories in Norway while expanding it in Singapore.
July 6, 2011
Solar Panels have decreased dramatically in cost from about $800 in 2008 for a standard 200 Watt Solar Panel to about $300 which means more than a 50% decrease in costs.In these days when the price of electricity and energy is constantly increasing this is an amazing fact and the decreasing cost of Solar Energy has made it the biggest Advantage of using Energy from the Sun.Cheap Chinese Solar Panels can be now be bought as low as $250 in bulk which implies that you can easily buy a Solar Array of 10 Solar Panels for your home at a cost of as low as $2500 .While the initial investment may look high you can look at electricity savings for 25 years as Solar Energy requires NO FUEL and very little maintenance as well.Solar Panels are already ubiquitous in places like Germany and Italy which have strong government support programs called Feed in Tariffs.With prices of energy increasing and Global Warming,its a matter of time when Solar Panels become as common as Lights in your home and offices.Solar Panels Installation is normally done by a Solar Integrator or Installer who decides on which Solar Panels to Buy and Designs the Systems.But as an owner of a Solar Panel System you must have a good idea otherwise you might get cheated upon.
July 6, 2011
CNPV is one of the bigger Tier 2 Chinese solar panel manufacturers with its factories based in China.The company does not have a big presence in the retail solar panel market as it sells mainly to solar farm developers.However with solar roofs becoming more important as government focus their efforts on residential installations compared to utility installations,it a matter of time before CNPV becomes available through online and offline dealers for residential solar.Quality wise and price wise the company is comparable to the smaller Chinese solar panel producers like CEEG,Sunink,ET Solar and SunEarth.However it does not have the backing of a big parent group so there is the danger that the company may not be available to survive the solar glut which has seen the solar panel prices coming down by more than 50% in 2011.However given its listing on the NYSE and its recent order flow from big distributors,it looks unlikely that it will fail.
July 6, 2011
Soar Rebates are a very important decision making factor when buying solar panels for your home or office or factory.The reason is that solar energy today is still not competitive with fossil fuel energy.However the costs of solar energy have declined dramatically in the recent past.It is estimated that solar energy will be competitive with coal,gas and other fossil fuels in 2-3 years in most places around the earth.In fact it has already reached "grid parity" in a number of countries like Italy,Hawai where there is a lot of sunshine and the cost of electricity is also high.Australia too has a large number of sunny hours which makes it ideal to install solar panels.State governments in Australia have been at the forefront of giving rebates and subsidies to promote solar energy in the country.This has resulted in a large boom of solar installations among residents in the country who are taking advantage of the generous subsidies.Though recently a number of provinces like New South Vales and Victoria have reduced the solar rebates , the falling cost of solar panels in Australia has still made it attractive enough for people to put up solar panels.
Most of the state government Feed in Tariff Schemes have closed down under a deluge of applications and have reached the limit.Now the rebates for solar energy is federal in nature where you can receive a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) or Solar Credit for the solar energy generated from solar panels.Here is a list of the solar rebates and subsidies available in different states of Australia.
July 6, 2011
Amorphous Silicon Solar Panels were the big rage in 2-3 years ago when the prices of polysilicon the main raw material were touching $500/kg making the mainstream crystalline silicon solar panels very expensive.Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) on the other hand is a non-crystalline silicon which is deposited as an extremely thin layer on glass and other substrates.The cost of the silicon is much lower though the efficiency of solar cells which are made from a-Si is about half of those made from crystalline silicon.Applied Materials with its SunFab turnkey amorphous silicon (a-Si) equipment capitalized on this opportunity, lining up a number of customers with some customer orders in the range of a Billion Dollars.Oerlikon Solar was the other major thin film equipment market winning customers in Europe and China.Sky high poly prices also gave birth to numerous Thin Film startups planning to Manufacture and Use their own equipment rather than selling it .
July 6, 2011
Solar Trackers are used to increase the Energy Output from Solar Panels and Solar Receivers.Solar Tracker is a Device which follows the movement of the sun as it rotates from the east to the west every day.Solar Trackers are used to keep solar collectors/solar panels oriented directly towards the sun as it moves through the sky every day.Using Solar Trackers increases the amount of solar energy which is received by the solar energy collector and improves the energy output of the heat/electricity which is generated.Solar Trackers can increase the output of Solar Panels by 20-30% which improves the economics of the solar panel project.
July 5, 2011
Multijunction Solar Cell Concept
The basic principle on which solar cells work is Photovoltaic ie. they convert the photons from the sunlight into usable electricity. However, in this process neither is all the light absorbed nor does all the photons get converted into electricity. High energy blue light photons do not have all of their energy converted into electricity, some is wasted as heat & low energy red light photons are not absorbed at all. Sunlight is made up of a broad spectrum and depending upon these various wavelengths, photons of light also have different energy levels.Hence, to minimize this wastage & to enhance the efficiency of solar cells, scientists came up with the concept of multijunction solar cells.
July 5, 2011
Solar Power is rapidly increasing around the globe driven by falling prices of solar energy and increasing costs of electricity generated from coal,oil and gas.Besides governments are supporting renewable energy as it leads to increased energy security,less pollution and helps in reducing global warming.Solar Panels Costs have fallen rapidly in recent years falling to as low as $1/watt from $4/watt in 2008.This is due to increasing scale of manufacturing by Chinese producers of solar panels,improved technology and efficiency.While Solar Panel Installations have profilerated in Europe and even in Australia driven by state government rebates,they have not really taken off in New Zealand.
The reason is that the prices of solar panels are still higher here because the market is so small that volumes have not decreased the price yet.Major solar panel manufactures also don't have distribution in New Zealand which means that only high cost solar panels are only available from companies like Mitsubishi and BP Solar which are niche players in the global arena.In fact BP Solar has stopped manufacturing solar panels and outsources the production to Asian companies.