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Renewables

Opinion

How many solar panels should you be putting up on your roof? The question is surprisingly complicated.

The roughly 95 per cent decline in the cost of solar cells over the past 15 years has been so precipitous that the modules themselves are a barely significant share of what you spend.

Almost every component is more expensive these days than the sheets of polysilicon that generate your power — the inverter that converts electricity into the alternating current in your plug sockets, the racking that attaches panels to your shingles, scaffolding, labour and your installer’s marketing expenditure.

As a result, solar retailers in many countries will tell you to upsize far in excess of your needs. A colleague was recently quoted $13,390 for a

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