Sharp unveils 228 W residential solar panel for limited rooftop spaces

How desperate does an economy have to get for solar power that it is willing to pay for the energy from such niche products at such a high price?

This is about 8 to 10 times more expensive than a regular panel, and I can't think of an application where this panel would be used on its own and do anything worth paying a thousand bucks for. If you needed two of these, you’d be better off spending $150 on a regular 350W+ panel. And if you wanted to use ten of them, again, why not use 5 regular 60/66/72/78-cell modules?!