I have been doing some research on solar panel and wind turbine systems. The pricing is crazy. For a 10Kw solar grid tie kit system is between ,000 and ,000. If you install batteries add ,000-,000. 10Kw will only power a small to medium home without electric heat. Using my electric usage and info from my local electric company payback is 60 years for solar and 361 years for wind. This is unexceptionable. The manufactures of the solar and wind are gouging the consumers. They are using the excuse of supply and demand for the high cost. When demand goes up so will mass production and the price will go down. This is true, but they are making a huge profit on what they are making now. Some items are in the 3000% markup range. Are the power companies keeping the price up so their profits don’t suffer? My local electric supplier has an "ENERGY PARK" that you can go see solar and wind power in action and check out real time data online. They have a 4Kw solar array installed and claim it cost ,378 installed and a 2.5Kw wind turbine that cost about ,000 installed. I think they are giving false numbers to consumers so you won’t go green. I was able to find a 3.5Kw kit online for ,000. This doesn’t include any type of mounting materials. You can add 0-,200 for these materials. An installer will will charge you ,000-,000 to install it. For the sake of argument lets say this will cost you ,000 to install but still way out of line for you and me to install. That is a far cry from the ,000 the power company claims. The power companies don’t want you to make your own electric. They are keeping the cost high so they will still make money off you. A 210w panel sells for around 0. They probably manufacture it for under . The cost needs to be 0-0 to the consumer to make it affordable to the average home owner. 50 210w panels make a 10Kw system. That would be ,000 not ,000. The manufactures are raping us and the power companies are helping them to keep prices high. When will we get the technology at a proper cost? Let me know what you think.
In response to the first 5 answers, Yes, if demand increases so will mass production and thus supply will increase and this will drive the price down. I looked into panels from China. From what I was able to find panels sell for {content}.17-{content}.45 per watt. In the U.S. they sell for .00-.00 per watt. Manufactures in the U.S. have lobbied for a higher tariff on solar products that makes them impractical to import on mass. These companies want to keep the price high so their profits stay high, and the power companies do not want you to produce all your own power. That would put them out of business.
In response to Steve R, You need to do more research before you post another retarded comment like that. Air "DOES" have mass (just not very dense). When air is in motion it is called "WIND". This motion creates energy. Have you ever heard of a "tornado"? Get your facts together next time.
