[octothorp]

Here's the cost equation as I understand it: the new plastic panels will operate between 1 and 5 percent efficiency, but are as cheap as $15 a meter, and last three years. So let's say you've got about 50 square meters of roof space with solar panels; you've spent $750. I think our insolation here in Calgary is around 3 kWh/m2/day (1 in Jan, peaks at near 6 in July). So assuming a optimistic 5% efficiency, you can get 7.5 kWh per day total, or 8213 kWh over the life of the solar panels. You're looking at a kWh cost of 9.132 cents, which is pretty close to Enmax prices, I think.

Now, that calculation assumes 5% efficiency which is far from a given, but it shows how important innovations like this are; getting the efficiency up to the 5-8% range rather than the 1-5% range makes a massive difference in the cost equation.