Mike wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
wig wrote:
OT ? Solar panels Will they get cheaper?

Or more efficient? I understand the high cost is due to the cost of
silicon, so what is the future for the cost of silicon?


Asked an industry expert about this today :

"The shortage is in polysilicon, not silicon wafers per se, although without
polysilicon, you can't grow the silicon ingots. Solar is the problem. In
the past, solar wafers used crap poly - it was cheap and did the job. IC
wafers in contrast need the besy poly man can make. Then the solar guys
suddenly discovered efficiency improved dramatically if you used better
quality poly, so now even solar wafers need decent stuff.

Capitive IC wafer manufactures don't have a problem (i.e. the big 4) but the
rest of the industry does."



Plus, IC makers couldn't care less if the price of a square centimeter
of chip is a few pence. (well, their profit margins might be very slightly
squeezed) but for solar panel makers, where that would multiply their costs
many fold, it's critical.