I hope Nanosolar builds modular panels that can be assembled like legos, that there should be no need for rocket science when you join them together as you anchor them on the roof.

What you need are basic carpentry skills. There are many excellent websites showing how to install solar panels on curved tile roof for example. The physical installation of the panels is the one that is time consuming. I have seen how some panels are easily wired together that there is no way you will make a mistake of inverting or mis-wiring them because they only fit one way.

You can then connect the panel unto an inverter. But when it comes to connecting the system to be grid-tied and having another circuit breaker in your main panel, you hire a licensed electrician to do that. Fortunately, that part of the job takes less than a day, and you don’t mess with the major house circuit when you can pay the electrician between $240-$360 for that connection. That would be the hardest part. The rest are carpentry skills and manual labor and you can pay somebody $120/day to assist you. A good sized 4 kW panel should take about 2 to 3 days to install. The total installation cost with you as the main installer and subcontracting the main circuit, should cost between $700-$1,000.

Typically, today’s solar installers in cahoots with the solar manufacturers would charge $7-$9/watt before rebates. There is no way that you can make it financially viable because the interest rate on the $7 will be much more than the value of the electricity produced by the 1 watt panel.

The break even point is between $2-$2.50/watt after rebates. If Nanosolar and their installers will charge about like that, then I’ll immediately sign up for 10 kW system. And if the solar PV panels come down to about $1-$2/watt for residential, I’d be installing them without applying for rebates.

People seem less interested in ROI and more concerned about the planet.

678 488 5166

Thanks

Everette Hester