Thin-Film Solar Panels are a new energy technology that reduce the cost of photo-voltaics to ~$2-3 per watt. Could this allow a new era in small scale 'solar farms'? India has taken the step of offering a generous subsidy to solar farms which deliver electricity back to the grid.



If a 'farmer' buys a 5 kilowatt system for $12,000, and then receives $.30 for every kilowatt hour he pushes onto the grid, how long will it take to recoup expenses? We can assume that solar panels receive 10 hours of usable sunlight per day, and so our 5 kilowatt system will generate 50 kilowatt hours per day. This is equivalent to $15 per day or over $4000 per year (if we assume that the sun does not shine 1/4 of the year, during the monsoon). Therefore, it will take about 3 years to pay off, more if there is interest on a loan.

How does this investment compare to others that a farmer might make? For instance, buying a cow and selling its milk-how long does it take to pay for the cow? Or buying land and growing crops--how long would it take to grow the value of the land?

India Subsidizes Solar Power Production
Provides rs12 (30 cents) per kilowatt hour

Printable Solar Panels
Cost of $1 per Watt,http://www.nanosolar.com/
(problem--sold out for the next 12 months!)
Thought to have an efficiency of 13.95%
Uses no silicon
The innovations made by nanosolar


Good comments on this post in Treehugger