Per Reuters news, 8 gigawatts (8 million kilowatts) of solar power is to be installed in India over the next 5 years. Adani Green to build 8 GW solar projects in India at cost of $6 billion .
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World's largest solar energy plant-India
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Lou
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Hi Hog,
30 years ago, even some solar energy professionals were predicting a dim future for solar. When I graduated from university in the early 1990s, I started cold-calling local solar energy companies, to see if they might hire me. Their responses were discouraging: "The solar energy industry isn't doing well". "Solar energy died in 1986". I did finally find a job with a tiny solar energy company, but it was years before any big projects began.
In 1990, who could have foreseen that the cost of solar panels would drop by 90%, or that the world's solar (PV, photovoltaic) and wind power installations would grow so rapidly?? As of 2018, the world has over 1,000 gigawatts (1 billion kilowatts) of installed solar and wind power plants. But it's still just a drop in the bucket. The world needs to install a lot more.
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Lou
Forum Legend
What still bugs me is what happened to solar water heating? It makes so much sense. Here in California, almost every house should have it. Even with tax credits, there are few homeowners that bothered to get it. Here in California, almost every pool is solar heated. It seems like a no-brainer.
OP
OP
Hi Lou,
I'm a huge (huge!) fan of solar water heating. Unfortunately, the return-on-investment numbers for solar water heating aren't that great, and the equipment warranties are relatively short (compared to solar electric panels).
- According to the U.S. Department of Energy (year 2006 numbers), a solar water heater saves perhaps $200 per year, compared to a natural gas-fired water heater: Estimating the Cost and Energy Efficiency of a Solar Water Heater .
- Per the HomeAdvisor website, it costs about $1700 to $5000 to have a solar water heater installed on a home: https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/plumbing/install-a-solar-water-heater/ .
- Per EnergyStar (a project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy), there is currently a 26% federal tax credit for residential solar hot water systems (tax credit is dropping to 22% in year 2021 - the future of the tax credit beyond 2021 is uncertain): Is there a tax credit for solar water heaters?
You can see how, even with federal tax credits, it could take from 6 to 20 years for a solar hot water system to pay for itself (but the components of these systems may only have a 2 to 10 year warranty: Solar Water Heater 10 Year Warranty - Sunbank Solar and Solar thermal panels system lifespan, maintenance and warranties | The Renewable Energy Hub).
In contrast, solar electric panel installation typically has a payback period of about 8 years (Calculate Your Solar Panel Payback Period | EnergySage), and solar electric panels typically have a 20-25 year warranty (Commercial Warranty SEP17 (Published, Hidden).).
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