First Solar (FSLR)

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[edit] Has there been any effort to put some type of mirror on the back side of...

Suggestion by 66.77.127.68 on 2008-10-01 21:17:35

Has there been any effort to put some type of mirror on the back side of a panel to get the reflected sun to produce power? richard_mciver@yahoo.com

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[edit] First Solar has done well making solar panels . They have not sone so we...

Suggestion by 72.240.214.203 on 2008-08-15 06:30:02

First Solar has done well making solar panels . They have not sone so well at treating employees without Racial discrimination. Please read the story at www.ripoffreport.com just enter the words First Solar in the search line. This will inform you of their blatant Racial Discrimination. Not only once . Take a look. I hop you will post this so all can read this. We have documented evidence . They also Lied Under Oath at an un-employment review commission hearing. We have the audio cd's fro proof.

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[edit] Wait a minte... 380MW per year can power of 200,000 homes?? I don't thin...

Suggestion by 71.105.83.66 on 2008-06-03 01:51:05

Wait a minte... 380MW per year can power of 200,000 homes?? I don't think so. The avg. home use is 10KWh /year. That means it takes 1MW to power 100 homes. That mean 380MW can only power 100*380 = 38,000 homes. that's *20%* of what you stated.

You have a discrepancy in your units. kWh = kilowatt hours. MW = Megawatt (no hours). Different units, different meanings. Watts measure energy used in an instant, while Watt-hours measure energy used over time.

Also, your assertion that the average home uses 10kW/year appears to be wrong: 10kW * h /year * (1 year/8,760 h) = (10,000/8,760) Watts or 1.1 watts - only 1.1 watts are needed to power a home, which doesn't make sense because a light bulb is 40-100 watts.

UtiliPoint International has an explanation of the difference, as well as the meaning of a Megawatt versus the meaning of a kilowatt-hour. The article is here: http://www.utilipoint.com/issuealert/print.asp?id=1728 , but I have quoted a section pertaining to your question below.

"The amount of electricity consumed by a typical residential household varies dramatically by region of the country. According to 2001 Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, New England residential customers consume the least amount of electricity, averaging 653 kilowatt hours (kWh) of load in a month, while the East South Central region, which includes states such as Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee, consumes nearly double that amount at 1,193 kWh per household." -

Now the math, assuming assuming high electricity usage (to be conservative) and a 30-day month: 1,193 kW*h/month/*(1 month/720 h) = (1,193,000/720) W = 1,657 W on average (of course, usage is higher during peak load times during the day and almost nothing when everyone is sleeping at night).

380 MW = 380,000,000W / 1,657 W= 229,330

So that's 229,330 homes that could be powered on 380 MW.

--AviGandhi 12:07, June 4, 2008 (PDT)