Hacker News Reader

Comment by aero-glide2 | Hacker News Reader

If it's 10 cents per watt why are prices on Amazon still 6 times that? https://www.amazon.in/WAAREE-TOPCON-575-Bifacial-Performance...

View on HN

Tariffs? https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-may-cut-solar-...

I have wondered this for years since the price for 200W panels stayed pretty flat for half a decade or more. Around $1/watt.

It turns out that these calculations are for utility scale purchases. You need to be buying thousands of panels to realize them.

That being said, I have noticed in the last year or so that you can find some pretty good individual panel deals, closer to $0.5/watt.

Just having a look in the UK and you can get 430W panels for £59.95 (excluding VAT, similar to sales tax) in bulk, marginally higher for smaller quantities. At current exchange rates that's $80, so 18c/watt?

https://www.solartradesales.co.uk/8-33-solar-430w-full-black...

https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/solar-panels.html

Interesting, even with the 40% import duties (China to India), local prices still are very high. Im not sure how to explain why no one is using this arbitrage.

Usually the arbitrage is a mirage (though sometimes it's real). Many times there are hidden taxes in the form of government bribery and special red tapes that requires paying the relevant parties. You only find out this stuff when you start doing business as the details are not included in the manual.

Because that's what people are willing to pay.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com