According to a study conducted at Queen's University in Canada, the public is in the dark about the viability of photovoltaic energy systems.
Many analysts argue a higher cost of photovoltaic energy because they do not take into account the latest technological advances and drop in prices," says Joshua Pearce, Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. ''Earlier models for calculating the cost of energy from photovoltaic systems are very conservative''.
Dr. Pearce believes that solar systems are near to the point where they can produce energy almost at the same price with other traditional sources of energy.
Analysts take into account several variables to determine the cost of photovoltaic systems for consumers, such as installation and maintenance, financing costs, the lifetime of the system, and the amount of energy it produces.
Dr. Pearce says that several studies do not take into consideration the cost reduction of photovoltaic panels which has reached 70% since 2009. Moreover he states that the capacity of top quality panels is reduced by only 0.1 to 0.2% per annum, much less than the nearly 1% used in many cost analysis.
Dr Pearce developed a calculation program available for download that calculates the real cost of solar energy
Source: Queen's University
