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iso1631yesterday at 6:48 PM2 repliesview on HN

In Europe you get about 1000kWh a year from 1000kW of solar panel

A plug in solar panel and microinverter at the local supermarket is about €1k/kW. 9kW of solar for €9k/£8k/$10.5k to power an average US car and an average US house.

Avearge US car does 13,000 miles a year needs about 4,500kWh, so €4500

An average US home uses 11kWh a day, or 4,000 kWh a year, that would be another €4000

US electric price is an average 17c per kWh. That's a 15% ROI.

I suspect the costs your quoting are mainly things like scaffolding and labour, and that's not going to get cheaper.

The panels themselves - ignoring inverter, install, etc, are $100 for a 400W panel [0]. To generate a whopping 16,000kWh a year -- 70% more than the average -- you'd need to spend $4k on panels. Even if panels were free, your quotes would still be obscene because tradesmen charge obscene amounts (or rather roofing work is just expensive)

[0] https://www.solartradesales.co.uk/aiko-neostar-2s-460w-n-typ...


Replies

mafuyyesterday at 7:40 PM

> In Europe you get about 1000kWh a year from 1000kW of solar panel

Typo, 1000kWh from 1kW of solar panel.

I got my 4x 455W panels for 70€ each from BayWa (random vendor in Germany), plus delivery. Microinverter ~200€. Aluminium etc for installation ~400€ or so. I installed them together with a friend. Total cost ~900€ or so. At 30ct/kWh in Germany, break even is in 3 years. Would be earlier if I had a better roof to put them on, mine has some shadow.

0cf8612b2e1eyesterday at 8:13 PM

Your US home consumption is off. EIA puts the average at 10,500 kWh per year, 875/month, 29/day.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricit...