HIgh efficiency solar cells for cubesats
We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per watt.
For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar panels now down to 30 cents a watt. So I plotted it:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size. The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
Bob, WB4APR
On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruninga bruninga@usna.edu wrote:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
People "waiting" often can't do math and so don't understand how cheap it really is (even 10+ years ago!), but regardless, why is there no economy of scale at the space end? Is the efficiency just going up at the same time? If so, why isn't the price just staying the same while efficiency rises?
The domestic PV is a completely different thing and now that our friends in China are pumping cells and modules by the million (billion?) the price just keeps dropping.
I'm not "waiting for efficiency", I'm "waiting until my roof can be repaired" which means "waiting for money" which should mean "not buying that IC-910H" but did not. :-)
What is the efficiency of a $500 space solar panel versus the efficiency of a home solar panel?
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruningabruninga@usna.edu wrote: We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per watt.
For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar panels now down to 30 cents a watt. So I plotted it:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size. The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
Bob, WB4APR _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
The ones we use on the Fox-1 satellites are 28.3%, BOL. I have no idea what a typical home solar panel can do. And I don't know if Bob has something newer and more efficient in his hands.
Jerry Buxton, NØJY
On 8/31/2016 13:22, dougphelps@ameritech.net wrote:
What is the efficiency of a $500 space solar panel versus the efficiency of a home solar panel?
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruningabruninga@usna.edu wrote: We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per watt.
For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar panels now down to 30 cents a watt. So I plotted it:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size. The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
Bob, WB4APR _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Follow the link. That is why I made the slide, so you can see the price, the efficiency and the change over time all in one slide… But It turns out the $500 cells are only 28% efficient, to get to 40% is only in the lab at the leading edge of solar research. So I just updated the chart. Bob
*From:* dougphelps@ameritech.net [mailto:dougphelps@ameritech.net] *Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2016 2:22 PM *To:* Robert Bruninga; amsat-bb *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] HIgh efficiency solar cells for cubesats
What is the efficiency of a $500 space solar panel versus the efficiency of a home solar panel?
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/mobile/?.src=Android
On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:04 PM, Robert Bruninga
bruninga@usna.edu wrote:
We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per watt.
For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar panels now down to 30 cents a watt. So I plotted it:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size. The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
Bob, WB4APR _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. javascript:return AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Robert,
Not sure if you can disclose or not but were the ones you purchased from Spectrolab?
Joseph Armbruster
On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Robert Bruninga bruninga@usna.edu wrote:
We just bought some high efficiency solar cells for our cubesat at $500 per watt.
For what it is worth, that is 1600 times more expensive than home solar panels now down to 30 cents a watt. So I plotted it:
http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/Cost-of-efficiency.png
It is interesting that we hear so much about solar getting cheaper, but in fact, the high end only gets more expensive. That is why those people who say “I’m waiting for higher efficiency” will never see it be cost effective. The space industry will always pay much,much more for just a factor of two increase, whereas the homeowner will only ever pay the cheapest. And cheap it is!
Solar power is now cheaper than a custom glass window of the same size. The cost of the solar cells is only 10% of the typical home installation (recently seen as low as $2.70/watt contractor price in PA).
Bob, WB4APR _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (5)
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dougphelps＠ameritech.net -
Jerry Buxton -
Joseph Armbruster -
Peter Laws -
Robert Bruninga