Breaking: First Photos From Inside the Crippled Japanese Nuclear Plant

willem Post said:

Osha,

A comment I made to another article:

Sarah and Devon,

You are on the right track, but the cost is much greater.

You calculate $86.5 billion for installing the 17.3 GWs of PV panels. You are not mentioning the FIT amounts paid out over the years; they amount to about $65 billion by the end of 2010. See my article below.

PV solar production = 17.3 GW x 8,760 hrs/yr x  CF 0.095 = 14.397 TWh/yr

If nuclear: ($86.5 billion/$7,000/kW = 12.357 GW) x 8,760 x CF 0.90 = 97.424 TWh/yr   

Capacity Factors

In 2009, Germany’s PV solar CF was 6,578 GWh/(7,890 MW x 8,760 hr/yr) = 0.095 out of a national theoretical maximum of 0.115 

The low CF may indicate the PV solar panels are aging, dusty, partially shaded by trees, partially snow-covered, etc., and, as about 80% of the PV solar systems are roof-mounted, many roofs may not be true-south-facing and the panels may not be correctly angled. Germany could raise its average, if it installed more suntracking systems that would have CFs of about 0.16  

Germany is a totally miserable place to produce solar power.

http://theenergycollective.com/willem-post/46824/impact-csp-and-pv-solar-feed-tariffs-spain

http://theenergycollective.com/willem-post/46142/impact-pv-solar-feed-tariffs-germany