Meanwhile, Andrew Gabor, senior engineer at Evergreen Solar, a silicon solar-cell developer and manufacturer in Marlboro, MA, says current supply problems related to conventional solar cells are easing as more production capacity is coming on line. This could mean that prices for silicon cells start dropping again, eventually becoming competitive with grid electricity. My personal "Price Point" is $2.00/watt for solar panels. After you buy the panels, you still have to invest in a mounting system, controller, batteries & an inverter. Even at $2.00/watt for the panels and doing the installation myself, I probably wouldn't see a true economic investment payback in my lifetime...