How much does it cost to produce solar power in contrast to oil or power, per watt?
May 6th, 2009
A citation would be great if you have it. Thanks. (And please don't just say that you like solar power or something like that, I only want to know about the cost–it's for a paper.)
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Solar power costs from $0.20 to $0.40 per kWH–the low end is for large commercial systems, the high end for residential ones. (first link)
A large solar power system costs about $9.00 per watt of capacity–roughly half of that is the solar cells, and the other half is land, support systems, grid connection, etc. (second link)
In contrast, fossil fuel generated power costs about $0.03-$0.06/kWh, and a fossil fuel plant costs about $1.30 per watt. Oil power would be the more expensive of this (coal is usually the cheapest), which is why…
Not sure if you know this already, but relatively little electricity is generated from oil. Only about 1.5% of electricy in the U.S. comes from oil powered plants. About 50% comes from coal, 20% each from natural gas and nuclear, 7% from hydro. See the last link for that.
In place, the cost for residential scale is about $10/watt installed by competent company.
DIY by a competent person is about $6 per watt.
average requirement for home is 2500 watts. BUT
The industry has decided that the minimum system should be 3000 watts. (because there isn't enough money in it otherwise to account for thier overhead).
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