Currently PV panels are pretty cheap. E.g., Navitron are doing Scheuten 235 W panels at a tiny smidge over 51p/W, incl VAT, so less than 43p/W after a new-build VAT reclaim. MCS approved Kinve panels of the same size are a little more expensive at about 57p/W incl. Maybe they'll get a bit cheaper but I can't help thinking the price can't get much lower unless the design is changed radically (stick-on thin-film or something).

At £100/m² they're already cheaper than windows by area, I think. Windows are similar technology but with more oxygen and less doping in one of the layers and no backing plate :-).

So, it seems to me that if you can use them immediately then there's no point in waiting - buy now. If, on the other hand, you can't use them for a while it's a difficult question when to buy. Delaying might save a small amount of money but it's entirely possible that the current glut will dry up or EU anti-dumping threats will be acted on or something so the price would go up resulting in bigger losses.

Anybody got any up-to-date thoughts on what prices are likely to do this year?

Be nice if these product got to a similar price per kW
http://www.schueco.com/web/uk/architekten/solarstrom_und_waerme/products/photovoltaics/fassadenmodul_prosol_tf.
Cheap 4kW all-in kit price is around £3000-3600 inc. vat
lets say on south facing UK roof it produces 3500kWh/year @ 14p = £490 pa
Pays for itself in 8ish years if you use all available produced energy . System should last 25 years+ ( maybe new inverter required)
This would be outside FITs
4kWp installs via MCS fitter around £6K

I cant see install prices dropping much lower if kepted inside MCS
Panels must have an minium price that there drop to, not sure how close we are to that.

what price do schools/hospital/public building pay for thier electric kwh ?

Seems on such location where all available power can be used PV cheaper than grid electric.

25 years (estimated sys. life) x 3500kWh = 87500kWh x 7p = £6125
then you've got FITs as a bonus currently at 15.44p per kWh generated and 3p for 50% of generated for deemed export. So £14,822.5 if you installed now and they did stick to promise to pay for 25 years

I should really get some more up on my roof asap

Buy PV soon!
When California introduce their FiTs, all the 'surplus' PV panels languishing in Europe will head over to the US...

Cheers

FiTs on PV is only for 20 years now, but the export price is up slightly at 4.5p.

And most/all of the manufacturers are losing money hand over fist currently with a lot of amalgamation going on. According to reports I read, which I have no way of verifying, only govt support (in China) is keeping many of them going. It's a cut-throat business full of predatory pricing by the big players who want to be the last ones standing. So it seems likely that panel prices won't be going down any (much?) further for a time whilst things shake out.

It's a huge and growing market so there will be rewards for those that survive. There are about 15 industry web sites where you can read all about it.

Decent windows (3G timber) are more like £300/m2 BTW. I guess plastic 2G is something like £100/m2

Posted By: djhTo make the comparison really work, though, you have to add the cost of the wall or roof that is behind the PV panel, since the window also fulfills that function.

The point of the comparison, rather flippant though it was, was to get an idea of the base cost of manufacturing and shipping the panels. It was not comparing the value to the structure of the house.