Not just for fun, but real, usable cells to use for providing electricity to my home….. I cannot afford the thousands of dollars most companies are asking for, and I am getting way ripped off by my electric provider, the only one in my area.
Originally posted 2009-03-26 17:37:34.
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As a home project, you can’t. It would require literally millions of dollars worth of equipment to do so; among the machinery required are zone melt refiners, vacuum ion implanters, semiconductor saws, photolithograpic gear, exposure masks, and a considerable pile of toxic chemicals. Not to mention a high grade clean room in which to do all the work. Perhaps this gives you a taste of why the things are as expensive as they are. The going price of photovoltaic cell power plants these days is about $10 a watt; the maximum power obtainable is about 2 kWh per installed watt per year, which at today’s prices is worth about 25 cents. Subsidies, which are available in varying degrees, can reduce the net cost to a point where such a facility is marginally profitable.