a wall of solar panels

[renim]

recently there are some reports of Pres. Trump using solar panels as the wall.
As shown by China's great wall, its best to own land both sides of the wall. And solar obviously does not like trees.

Anyway, some back of the envelope calcs
length approx, 3,000km or 3,000,000 metres
a module is about 40cents per watt Price Quotes_EnergyTrend PV
so 250W module is about $100
a module is about 1m wide and 1.5m high
so roughly
a fence 1 module high would contain 3,000,000 PV modules at between 250-350W each
3,000,000 * 0.250kW = 750 MW 3,000,000*0.350kW = 1,050 MW
a four module (6m) high fence would be 3,000MW to 4,000MW

hmmm, very rough calcs, but the incremental cost of using solar seems very sensible for that application.

 

[Sharkbait]

Well, if Trump cut China a favorable trade deal for helping with the N. Korea problem, I can't say that building a wall with solar panels would be a good or bad idea. One thing for sure, the Chinese and Europeans can offer solar solutions cheaper for their consumers than we can here. In the end, I bought a system put together with panels from S. Korea (LG). They weren't cheap but they have performed well.

I think solar companies here in the States are gouging consumers but that's only my opinion. Closing in on three years, my system degradation is nil. Quality panels, like the ones I installed, are still a fair bit over $1/watt or more. Throw in the cost of labor and you're really up there. But rest assured, Mexico will be the ones paying for this solar wall.......

 

[BluestarE3]

But rest assured, Mexico will be the ones paying for this solar wall.......

But if they're paying for it, wouldn't they put the solar panels on their side and use all the electricity generated by the wall? Sort of like the neighbor who pays for the fence between two properties would put the finished side facing his/her own property.

 

[renim]

hmmm, electrical link from Texas to California, each could sell negative price energy to each other (solar and wind)