Prediction of future materials, maintenance and waste recovery costs on photovoltaics solar panels

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2018

Keywords

Solar energy panels, materials cost, maintenance cost, waste recovery cost

DOI

10.1049/cp.2018.1826

Abstract

Petroleum and natural gas are mainly used to generate electricity nowadays. However, the emission of greenhouse gas is a concern, and is getting serious year by year. In order to protect our environment, it is imperative to replace the rapid uses of fossil fuel with alternative or renewable energy. Regarding the situation in Hong Kong, if the government want to increase the use rate of solar energy in the long run, the cost is one of the major concerns. Detail knowledge of solar energy cost on the basis of the analysis on materials, duration, maintenance and waste recovery cost are thus necessary. The present study on the cost prediction of solar panel provides an insight on whether solar panels are sustainable in terms of low opportunity cost. The second generation of solar panel material has a lower cost than first generation given the fact that the both generations can have the same lifespan. In addition, the maintenance and duration time of the second generation are also satisfactory. Nevertheless, the waste recovery on the solar panel still need to be improved to achieve highly sustainable to maintain at a low cost. The cost analysis is an important parameter to encourage the citizens to use solar panel for electricity generation particularly after the newly launched feed-in tariff scheme in Hong Kong. Hong Kong nowadays are still more dependent on coal and natural gas to generate electricity energy due to the relative low cost, thus maintaining the solar panel at low and competitive cost promotes the widespread uses of solar energy in future.

Source Publication

The 11th IET International Conference on Advances in Power System Control, Operation and Management (APSCOM 2018)

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