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Comment by ben_w | Hacker News Reader

Come to Europe. Our discount stores will sell you a kit for €200-€300. Not 20k-30k, 200-300.

That's on the small side of things, of course, but we also have PV-covered carports for about the same as a non-PV-covered carport: https://www.kaufland.de/product/512021383/

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The fact that solar panels are getting cheaper on a sqft basis than plywood or sheet metal means we are going to stat to shove them in lots of places we never expected to especially if micro inverters or optimizes become cheap as well. why not use solar panels on your fence if it is cheaper than any other options.

> why not use solar panels on your fence if it is cheaper than any other options.

I was considering this earlier in the year, as it happens.

The biggest issue I can see is that you would want a micro inverter or solar optimizer on every panel or every other panel to get decent output which would add a lot to the cost.

Don't take my word for it because I still feel like I don't fully understand the situation, but are you aware of the current state of bypass diodes and shadow scanning in mppts? The situation seems to have changed a lot in recent years.

Just checked my local online store - non-structural plywood is still about 5-10x cheaper.

I don't think you realize how little power does apartment needs. Your average American/AU/NZ home is using 10x more energy.

I know exactly how little power an apartment needs, that's why I had the entire second paragraph.

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