Hacker News Reader

>The article emphasizes that the declining price is due mostly to peripherals & installation rather than any efficiency breakthroughs of the solar panels themselves.

Over the last few years racks, mounts, wiring, inverters and labor have made up ~60% of the cost.

Plus, Obama started slapping ~30% tariffs on the cheapest imported solar panels.

View on HN

Not sure why you're being downvoted, I assume the ~20℅ anti-subsidy rates plus the individual anti-dumping rate referenced in the below article are what you're referring to?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/u-s-impose...

Yep that's the one.

I read the state department report too. The 'disguised subsidies' they called China out on included 'advertising' the solar companies' existence on local government websites.

Clearly they didn't expect anybody to actually read that.

In the US, I'd image tariffs on panels having a much lower influence then elsewhere in the world. Even if panels were completely free in the US, a US-based residential solar system is going to be more expensive to install than even European ones (including European panel costs).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com