The Installed Price of Solar Photovoltaic Systems in the U.S. Continues to Decline at a Rapid Pace « Berkeley Lab News Center This trend is affected a great deal by supply over capacity leading to panel dumping on the market, so near term the price drops will stop and perhaps increase. Nonetheless it is amazing to read that a large installation was as low as $2.8 a watt, and I presume that was before any incentives were calculated. If that installation had been in my state of NM which produces about 2 kwh/watt a year from a fixed array, sold production at the retail rate (my current rate is 11 cents/kwh), and collected the state and federal tax subsidies, the ROI would work out to 11.5% apr. DANG Addendum: I rechecked the finance calc, and I now come up with a real (corrected for inflation) 5.4% apr. That is still outstanding.
Not if you finance it on a second mortgage. Then you are cash positive on day 1. For my conditions, the cash positive point is $4.70 / peak watt. $2.80 would be awesome!
Errr. ... what does 'breakeven' have to do with this topic ? Please understand that this pricing is for a commercial array, and should be understood in the context of a long-term investment. I do not wish to insult you, but I have to ask if you understand what break-even actually means, say, in the context of an home solar PV installation ? Personally, I would jump at an opportunity like this and invest $1M today. Also keep in mind that inflation is built into the retail price of electricity.
When is 8.7years considered too long for investments? Unless you play short stocks on wall street, 10 year bonds or company stocks over time is what is considered a good investment. And do remember that not everything is measured in dollars.
