Comments on: Spain Forges Ahead with Low Cost Solar Research http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/10/spain-forges-ahead-with-low-cost-solar-research/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Mon, 29 Dec 2014 23:40:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 By: Ronald Brak http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/10/spain-forges-ahead-with-low-cost-solar-research/#comment-123671 Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:46:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=38921#comment-123671 When panels are cheap enough it allows installers to face some west to take care of late afternoon demand at little extra cost, so fingers crossed they can bring down the price. 

]]> By: Bob_Wallace http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/10/spain-forges-ahead-with-low-cost-solar-research/#comment-123578 Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:23:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=38921#comment-123578 Efficiency is becoming a major issue, I would think.

Panel prices are approaching $1/watt. Residential rooftop in the US is over $5/watt.

80%+ of a system is now in installation and permitting. The more watts in a square foot of panels, the less installation cost you have. (Less racks, less labor)

]]> By: sola http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/10/spain-forges-ahead-with-low-cost-solar-research/#comment-123575 Sun, 10 Jun 2012 19:25:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=38921#comment-123575 I just hope their target price is way lower than 50 cents/watt-on-panel because silicon panels are getting there in a couple of years and this is only in research phase.

That ~10% panel level efficiency is a problem when the installation area is limited (rooftops with appropriate solar orientation) and the silicon contenders have 16-17% efficiency so they need smaller installation area for for the same watt.

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