[kragen]

Hmm, if we use €0.19/Wp as the price, US$1.08/€ as the exchange rate, and 30% as the capacity factor (I'm assuming it's a bit sunnier than Arizona, which has a 25% average capacity factor for utility-scale solar), the payback time is only 3.7 years. That seems like a pretty profitable investment even despite the subsidized electrical rate.

To be concrete, a 200-watt solar panel should cost about US$41, and produce on average 60 watts: 0.06 kWh/h, which is US$0.00126 per hour, US$0.03 per day, US$0.92 per month, US$11 per year. So in a bit less than four years, it pays for itself, unless the subsidized price of power drops by then or someone steals the panel. If we include a motor scooter battery and cigarette-lighter inverter so you can plug regular appliances into it, even at night, the payback time jumps up to maybe ten years.

Maybe you're mostly saying that US$41 or US$100 is a lot of money to invest up front, or maybe the problem is (as it is here in Argentina) that panel prices are wildly inflated by corruption.

[econcon]

Last time I was installing panels, they were cheap even the mono ones, but there were other costs like mppt charger, batteries, inverter and DC wires (copper is expensive) when I summed it all, I got to the breakeven point in 10 years.

Now I am thinking about grid connected setup but still AC module isn't cheap if they were only $50-$100, like the enphase AC units embedded into solar panel itself, it would be worth it. But it nearly doubles the price so I've not installed any panel yet.