Rooftop solar problem

[Loren Pechtel]

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www.washingtonpost.com

Solar farm: $1.16/watt. Rooftop: $4.20/watt. But the incentives are so mixed up we are doing the latter.

 

[bilby]

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www.washingtonpost.com

Solar farm: $1.16/watt. Rooftop: $4.20/watt. But the incentives are so mixed up we are doing the latter.

It's worse than that; The cost per watt is only half the story - you also need to look at the wholesale spot price, at the times when solar is generating power.

Typically they look at the average wholesale price, over a period of a day, month, or year, which gives a false impression of profitability.

If you generate electricity for $1, and the average long-term price is $2, you are still losing money if the price in the 8hours/day when you can generate averages $0.50, and the average price in the 16 hours/day when the sun isn't shining is $2.75.

 

[steve_bank]

In the past utilities in Ca and Hawaii incentivized roof top solar by guarantee a price for electricity put into the grid.

It upset the rate structures, it was not economical for the utilities.

 

[DBT]

Government subsidies help the user, I guess.

 

[barbos]

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www.washingtonpost.com

Solar farm: $1.16/watt. Rooftop: $4.20/watt. But the incentives are so mixed up we are doing the latter.

This post is misleading.
This is a cost of installation which is not everything. And cost of rooftop installation does not have to be that high.
New home designed to have solar panels will cost less than the farm.

 

[steve_bank]

It is about the time to recoup the extra money spent on solar.

How much electricity per year does solar save versus the total cost of the solar system plus maintenance like batteries.

Here in Washington people who bought EVs are finding the cost of repaving batteries higher than the value of the used car.

Fo0 a given home you can calculate 10, 20, and 30 year return on investment.

In Florida and on the east coast storms are a hazard for roof top solar.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Residential solar isn't particularly green. The environmental cost for the layout of the electrical grid has been in place for a while. Adding solar panels that might last 20 years is a new environmental cost in its own right. Adding a battery makes it even worse. You pay up front for the panels, and then pretend inflation is your friend as you "save money" because electric rates down the road go up... but so would have $20,000 you spent on the panels. And this is ignoring the issue that energy is generally more efficient at larger scales, as per the OP. So unless your home was built to gain the maximum benefit of solar (with the right placement and motors to rotate the panels across the day (even less green to add that), you are getting solar that is less efficient.

 

[Tigers!]

In the past utilities in Ca and Hawaii incentivized roof top solar by guarantee a price for electricity put into the grid.

It upset the rate structures, it was not economical for the utilities or the governments.

FIFY
Australian state governments are reducing drastically the solar feed-in traffic rates as they are just too expensive to maintain.

https://www.esc.vic.gov.au/media-ce...short answer is that,to lower feed in tariffs.

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www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

 

[steve_bank]

In the past utilities in Ca and Hawaii incentivized roof top solar by guarantee a price for electricity put into the grid.

It upset the rate structures, it was not economical for the utilities or the governments.

FIFY
Australian state governments are reducing drastically the solar feed-in traffic rates as they are just too expensive to maintain.

https://www.esc.vic.gov.au/media-centre/how-can-feed-tariff-go-down-while-retail-prices-are-increasing#:~:text=The short answer is that,to lower feed in tariffs.

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www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

Please do not add text to what I say and then sow it as my words.