Setting the solar story straight

5 common solar myths

Myth #1: PV is too expensive

of scale for modules, inverters and mounting systems; robust international competition; the use of lower-cost manufacturing locations for modules; and rapidly plummeting polysilicon prices.

•Late last year, Reuters reported that solar PV “is up to eight times more expensive than conventional forms of power like coal and gas.” However, reality contradicts the rhetoric.•The cost of PV is becoming cheaper by the day. PV module prices themselves are a good example. Since 2007, it can confidently be said that module prices have more than halved, for every type of semiconductor technology and for manufacturers from all over the world (see graph).•Driving down the cost of PV has been achieved through a variety of combined factors including: economies

Myth #2: PV increases bills for consumers

• That means 75 percent of all German FITs go to utility-rate payers, homes, farms and small businesses, instead of the big utilities and banks. So while households pay for the EEG, most of it flows directly back into the community.

•Renewable energy is sometimes accused of raising electricity prices. But is this really the case?•In 2012, it is estimated that German households will pay 3.6 euro cents per kWh, which is expected to amount to €17.6 billion (US$23.11 billion). This is a serious amount of money, but it’s worth asking: where is this money going?•A report late last year from Germany’s Renewable Energy Agency showed that “private individuals / households” own 40 percent of green power generating projects, “farmers” make up 11 percent and “businesses” make up nine percent.

Myth #3: PV is too inefficient

percent, and cell efficiencies from around 10 up to a whopping 43.5 percent – the highest results being recorded in research laboratories.

• So while all this is going on, perhaps an analogy used by the father of dye-sensitized PV, Michael Grätzel, can help explain how efficiency isn’t everything.

• He implores us to adopt a new perspective on PV by looking to a tree, with countless leaves photosynthesizing in the sun. He observed that each leaf is only about one percent efficient, but together, the thousands of leaves capture the energy from the sun, which all life relies on.

•A common criticism of solar PV is that solar panels are just too inefficient.•However, with the wide range of research taking place, from educational institutions to R&D from module makers and equipment suppliers, efficiency is always increasing. At present, module efficiencies range from around 13 to 18

Myth #4: PV doesn’t work on cloudy days

modules they wish to install. Thus, modules are tested under low-light conditions as well and if the right ones, with the lowest performance dips under cloudy conditions are selected, then PV power is still produced on those grey days.

•PV continues to function under cloudy skies. PV modules are usually tested at Standard Test Conditions, however real conditions vary largely.•Hence, power generated by modules under cloudy conditions is also tested. This is known as low-light condition performance. When a solar power plant is built, professionals do an analysis not just of the cost of development and performance data, but they also take into account the area’s irradiation.•Simulations are then used to gauge the efficiency of a standard module under different light conditions and planners then decide on the type of

Myth #5: PV cannot compete with fossil fuels

• Some say PV will never compete with fossil fuels or nuclear power. But the cost of PV is falling, and falling fast.

• Analysts A.T. Kearney produced an analysis of three key markets to assess whether PV can compete with power costs for the consumer (known as dynamic grid parity) in the residential, commercial and industrial segments.

• Even with the conservative assumption that wholesale electricity prices will remain stable, PV can be seen to be competitive in the coming years:

o in Germany as early as 2014;o in Spain as early as 2012; ando in the U.K. as early as 2016.

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