Hi klippety!
It's a big mystery, why the installation of solar-cells is so very expensive. Sure you know, there are 2 kinds of solar power plant. The photovoltaik and the solarcollectors. I'm sure, this could be much more cheaper, if it were not blocked by the great oil and energy corporations, who own our leaders. The technology for solarcells is wellknown since 50 years or more and hasn't changed very much all this time, while microchips of today at this time had the mass of a skycraper. The big corps. bolded some patents at safes until today. And even in Germany, where alternative energy has a long history, only since a short time big concerns build photovoltaic-facilities. The most a...

Hi klippety!
It's a big mystery, why the installation of solar-cells is so very expensive. Sure you know, there are 2 kinds of solar power plant. The photovoltaik and the solarcollectors. I'm sure, this could be much more cheaper, if it were not blocked by the great oil and energy corporations, who own our leaders. The technology for solarcells is wellknown since 50 years or more and hasn't changed very much all this time, while microchips of today at this time had the mass of a skycraper. The big corps. bolded some patents at safes until today. And even in Germany, where alternative energy has a long history, only since a short time big concerns build photovoltaic-facilities. The most are made by very small companies till today. The right, to give the over the own need produced electricity in the public net, took legal proceedings in court over at least 10 years! And at this time the net was complete in public hand and the final sellers of gas and electricity too! Now all is squandered to the big rulers of our fate. And the sunlight they cannot rise up in price, as they want.
But we have some cheap solutions. Some people have a alone standing solar-cell for to produce enough energy for light, TV and PC and even wash and dish with this. If you want heat and/or cool with it too, is a photovoltaic needed, but I think, in california or other sunny states, this can't get so expensive. Here the people have addictional heated heat exchanger, heat extractor and more, because at the winter, if the most energy is needed, we have minimal sun. And those installations are highly complicated, individual constructed and calculated and have a price unto 40.000$. If you are interested on prices and evtl. comparison look here:
http://www.quotatis.co.uk/quote-alternative-energy-2.html
I looked at the site last week and it's available in english too. But the prices may be different in Germany and UK. - A comparison is surely interesting.