Today we have a look at what could happen in the solar panel industry in the next 5 to 10 years. Let us have a quick look at the solar power industry trends in the near future. Today the most widely used model by the government is to give rebates to individuals and organizations. However incentives are not provided to produce clean energy.
This is because installed watts not always convert into produced watts due to installation issues and efficiencies of equipment. The feed in tariffs that could be introduced in the near future will reward the solar power producer by paying a rate for the power that they feed back in the grid at the actual rate.
For example, a home could be producing $0.11/kw-hr power but selling power to the grid for $0.45/kw-hr. Hence this will result in a profit and a better return on the investment. This initiative will support clean energy production and reduce the consumption of power. Feed in tariffs have been successfully started in countries such as Germany and will soon catch up in other countries as well.
There will be a lot of advancement in the solar components such as solar panels and additional components such as inverters, batteries and racking. For example, the advent of micro inverter ha changed the game significantly. Previously there was a large centralized converter to alter the power to be fed to the grid.
Though the system’s performance was ok, the expense was not economically effective.
The micro converter alters the power condition as soon as it comes out of the panel. Hence the power from each panel can be monitored and then controlled and optimized. These inverters don’t take up much space. The central inverter costs upwards of $10,000 while the micro inverters will cost not more than $200. Some prominent solar manufacturers who are getting in the act include Sharp, Mitsubishi and Sunpower.
Even solar power storage will get better in the future as we need power even when it is not day and the sun is not shining. Today universities like Stanford and Harvard are spending millions of dollars in research for producing batteries that can store more power. The batteries will become lighter, more powerful and environment friendly. Heavy duty lithium batteries may be used in the future along with ultra capacitors.
With these advancements the future of solar energy looks bright as ever.