1 If the patent application was filed on or after June 8, 1995, the starting patent term is 20 years. 2  This accounts for the vast majority of patents in force today. 3  The 20 year term is calculated based upon the priority filing date, not counting provisional application or the original filing in a foreign country.
The report indicates that the median installed price of PV systems completed in 2012 was $5.30/W for residential and small commercial systems smaller than 10 kilowatts (kW) in size and was $4.60/W for commercial systems of 100 kW or more in size.
Cost Analysis of Concentrating Solar Power 15f igure 4.2: T oTal inSTalled CoST breakdown for 100 mw ParaboliC Trough and Solar Tower CSP PlanTS in S ouTh a friCa Source: Fichtner, 2010.Note: The parabolic trough system has 13.4 hours of thermal energy storage and the solar tower system 15 hours.. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from CSP plants is currently high. Assuming the cost of capital is 10%, the LCOE of parabolic trough plants today is in the range USD 0.20 to USD 0.36/kWh and that of solar towers between USD 0.17 and USD 0.29/kWh.