Solar PV Getting a Little Cloudy?

Off Topic. Photovoltaic arrays that were being touted the darlings in the Silicon Valley just 8 months ago are now struggling to just make ends meet. So for the time being the bloom seems to be off the rose. –

According to Solarbuzz’s February price survey, U.S. panel prices have fallen 4 cents since December to $4.81 per watt of peak capacity, while European panel prices are down 6 euro cents to €4.62 per watt. In the last month, they have fallen 3 cents and 1 euro cent, respectively.

That may not sound too dramatic, but some companies say they are seeing larger price cuts. The anecdotal evidence could indicate that wider declines are coming or just that some buyers are getting better deals.

Mike Hall, president of installer Borrego Solar Systems, says he’s seen solar-panel prices drop some 15 percent in the last few months, and he calls this the first “real drop” in PV prices in the last three or four years. “They’re back to where they were when I started in the industry in 2002,” he says. “There’s no question they’ve dropped a lot and across the board. I haven’t heard of anyone who hasn’t been affected by price, some more than others.” Borrego Solar ditched its residential solar division last week.

Two observations –

• PV mavens were touting that ‘real soon’ PV costs per watt of power would be down in the $1.50-2.00. Now I realize they expected to do so through technical advancement. We got there though oversupply. Oddly the suppliers are crying in their beer about this even though this is what they said they would deliver in the near future. Odd indeed.
• If you were thinking about putting PV into your plans but the power to price ratio didn’t cut it; go get a rebid on the arrays. You might be able to prove it in this time around.

When being green aligns with good economic sense then its time to make it happen. Right now its a buyers market.

Linky.