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HexnMarcusWolfe • today at 3:19 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

It's been cheaper than nuclear for a while now, it was only a matter of time.

Personally i'm waiting for the next iterations of Kesterite cells.

If we can get single cells to crack ~20% efficiency. With a tandem cell architecture, it's going to become the new standard overnight.

Durability of silicon cells or better, but orders of magnitude $ cheaper to produce, and without the need to use toxic agents as in perovskite cells.

We're movin' fast.

For over a decade we were stuck at ~12% efficiency. And in the last 4 years (probably with AI help) we've cracked 15% efficiency

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/chinese-researcher...

Few more years, and with a bit of luck, we'll all be around to see solar panels that cost 1/10th of what they do now.


Replies

ipdashc • today at 4:46 AM

> we'll all be around to see solar panels that cost 1/10th of what they do now

I get the impression they're already really damn cheap, to the point that the issues are more so with grid interconnections, land use, and storage

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micw • today at 7:20 AM

> we'll all be around to see solar panels that cost 1/10th of what they do now

I doubt that. Currently the cells itself makes only <50% (maybe <30% meanwhile) of a PV module. So the limit to the bottom is by the glass and frame and cable, not by the cells.

But $/watts can significantly go down with more efficiency.

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