Comment on Solar panel costs have plummeted from $6 per watt in 2000 to just 12 cents today
fshagan@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Given the tarrifs and price flow in the BBB, panel prices will never be lower than .35 a watt (imported panels must cost that much or a dirty will be applied for the difference). Two Bit DaVinci covers it at 3:00 in this video: youtu.be/1nvhe2h82hY?is=5ivY0bV9cxC9T1h5
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
That very much depends on the country you’re in: @boonhet@sopuli.xyz found then at €0.13/watt sold to consumers in Estonia, which is an EU country which has 0% VAT on solar panels whilst the EU itself has 0% Duty Tax (aka tariffs) so there is not tax at all on them and their price is just factory price in China + shipping costs (probably by ship, which isn’t actually that much when shipping full container loads of them) + profit margin for importers and sellers.
Even in the US, given that Duty Tax if applied to Purchase Price + Shipping Costs To US Border, if the purchase price of the panels goes down, the price in the US after Duty Tax will go down, though it’s ultimatelly bound by Shipping Costs To US Border (which aren’t actually all that much if shipping full container loads of them from Shenzheng by boat). The point being that the Duty Tax for solar panels would have to be many 100s or percent for them to never be lower than $0.35/watt.
fshagan@lemmy.today 7 hours ago
Yes, the US has a floor on panel prices coming that will fix the retail price at .35 per watt, if imported. It’s possible for a US manufacturer to sell for less, like .34.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 hours ago
I wasn’t aware the US had a Duty Tax for some things that was a fixed minimum price.
Until now, all I had ever seen and learned about Duty Tax and Tariffs is that they’re a percentage on top of total price of a product delivered at the border (so basically factory price + shipping to border costs).
Then again I’m in Europe and only ever imported stuff in bulk here for a small business I had years ago.