What will you think when you look back on August 2018?

I'll remember buying silver thinking that it couldn't go lower but it did.

 

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I'll just look back pensively on my existence.......

 

Everything has a Silver Lining.

As long as it doesn't drop from the sky and back into the ground.

 

you had your dead cat bounce at 1160 for gold

 

That was world gold, people who play options for support generally use the NY Gold price and US exchange.But as always there will be fake outs. Maybe Ed could let us know whixh exchange he is going to swamp with buys tomorrow that will drive the price up.

 

I'm going to get a few rolls of 90% Silver tomorrow on Ebay. They will be running 8% Ebay bucks so you are essentially getting them for melt. Best price I can find right now.

 

Interesting question that I’ve been asking myself too. I remember a couple years ago paying $17 for ASEs and thinking that I wouldn’t see those prices again...

I’m just slowly buying a little at a time right now.

 

Hey if it drops after more you may never get your money back. I think ti's a sweet deal right now but 12.00 would be even sweeter. I know it won't drop to pre 2008 levels for sure though.

 

Photovoltaic systems aren't going anywhere. Distributed power generation using roof-top PV systems is becoming more popular. It puts the power generation directly on top of where the power is used. This can greatly improve the power grid's stability and reliability.

PV system can also be installed most anywhere, even if you aren't a super sunny location like the Mojave desert. Concentrated solar thermal system require direct sunlight for long durations in order to function. Even partly cloudy days can kill their efficiently. This is why most all of them are built in the desert, and even then it has is moments. The Ivanpah complex in your photos has to burn natural gas when its cloudy for too long. A facility like this would not work well in most places east of the Rockies, but a PV farm could work almost anywhere.

And the heliostat mirrors used in concentrated solar plants are usually coated with silver to help improve reflectivity.

 

Perhaps that's true today, but the price of PV panels is continuing to plummet. The price of thermal generation equipment, and tracking mechanisms for mirrors, isn't likely to follow the semiconductor-manufacturing curve.

I'm surprised that maintenance would be cheaper for solar-concentration than for PV. Solar-concentration has tons of moving parts, some operating at high temperatures and pressures. If something goes wrong in the central receiver, you've got to take down the entire installation to fix it.

As @Speedbump pointed out, it's harder to find sites for solar-concentration plants. PV panels can go on top of almost anything, at small or large scales. I think eventually PV roofing will be the rule rather than the exception, at least in developed nations.

I don't completely agree with @Speedbump's point about distributed generation improving grid stability and reliability. It can be harder to manage a two-way distribution/collection grid than one with a small set of producers and a vast majority of consumers. The real problems with stability come from cost-cutting, and to the extent that distributed generation cuts into power companies' dominance in generation, it'll actually make the cost-cutting pressure worse. To me, that's an argument in favor of self-sufficiency (household generation and storage); that choice isn't necessarily the best for society at large, but if the price is right, it's best for the individual homeowner.

 

Storage is important...the latest residential solar systems have incorporated battery packs that are charged with excess generation during the day for use during the night. Larger battery storage systems are on the horizon for micro-grids that are designed to be stand alone islands in in the event of a grid blackout.

 

When I look back to August 2018, I will remember that this is month I put solar panels on my house?!?!?!?!

 

Yeah, that is the game in physical pm. When the market goes down, they simply raise the premiums so buyers do not benefit. It always takes a while to push this back down.