Solar is Stupid. Let's Go Solar!!

Weather Underground has a neat calculator located at : Solar Calculator . You simply put in your home address, and it will calculate the solar insolation using data from the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. For us, the raw data shows solar insolation at about 4 kilowatt hours per square meter per day as shown here :

It will also calculate the return on a solar panel. If we had a 1' x 1' solar panel with an efficiency of 15%, we could get about $3 worth of electricity per year from the sun.

Harbor Freight sells a 45 watt ( @ 3000 mA, peak 23.57 V) solar panel kit ( 3 - 12.4" x 36.42" panels each rated at 15 watts) for $199.99 ($212.99 with OHSTax). That is (37.2 x 36.42) 9.4085 square feet (gross). The highest rated panel on the on-line list is 18%, so assuming that the Chinese-made Chicago Electric panels can hit 15% ( and being well aware that some of the panels on the list are rated at only 6%), we get the following:

Shazzam!! $32 bucks worth of juice at 0.12 per Kwhr. That is pretty close to my actual net charge of 0.1216 for December 2008. I could set up that unit and in just over 6 and half years I could be getting free electricity!! Wheeeee!! Of course, that does not include the cost of the required storage batteries (about $50 each) and inverter. Also, it is going to require quite a few of these buggers (more than 20) to pull out 1000Kwhr (typical usage in December, more in January and February) per month.

They also have a 75 watt 12 volt panel (47' x 21.5", 7.017 square feet) for only $499.99 ($532.49 with tax). That would also need storage batteries and an inverter.


The calculator shows the 75 watt unit putting out about $24 worth of electricity per year at 0.12/Kwhr. That did not seem like I was comparing apples to apples, so I went looking for the rating systems, and I am having trouble finding them. On the other hand, I did find a site Solar Panels Reviewed... which rated the Sanyo 190 watt ($1195) as most efficient (17.4%), the Evergreen Solar unit ($1079) that was considered the "greenest", and the Kyocera 190 watt ($1085) rated as the best deal (15% efficiency). Since the Kyocera KD-205GX-LP (59.1" x 39", 205 W @ 26.6V and 7.71 A, 14% efficiency, $899 at www.affordable-solar.com) is listed on the calculator, I plugged that one in for this result :

So as I think about it, the buzz about solar is really just a bunch of nonsense. How big is the power plant for an aircraft carrier? For a real kick, look at the Hyperion Power Modules : Hyperion Power Generation. "Each HPM provides 70 MW thermal energy or 25 MW electric energy via steam turbine for seven to ten years. This amount of energy provides electricity for 20,000 average American-style homes or the industrial or infrastructure equivalent. Each module will cost $25 to $30 million."
I took out the calculator again. Assuming a 7 year life, for 20,000 homes that is just under $215/home. Assuming a 5 year life (time between refueling, assuming the reactor would need to be replaced, when in fact it should simply need refueling), it would cost about $300/home. No batteries, no power inverter, and that is the cost per home, not per solar cell.

Hyperion Fast Facts

• Small -1.5 meters across, approx size of a residential “hot tub”
  
• Produces 70 MWt or 25 MWe, enough to power 20,000 average American homes or the equivalent
  
• Buried underground out of sight and harm’s way
  
• Transportable by train, ship, truck
  
• Sealed module, never opened on site
  
• Enough power for 5+ years
  
• After 5 years, removed & refueled at original factory
  
• Uniquely safe, self-moderating using a natural chemical reaction discovered 50 years ago
  
• No mechanical parts in the core to malfunction
  
• Water not used as coolant; cannot go “supercritical” or get too hot
  
• No greenhouse gases or global warming emissions
  
• Think: Large Battery!

Solar is stupid. Think nuclear. (Nucular in some parts of the country.)