Posted on 12/11/2014 5:39:22 PM PST by Theoria
The costs of solar energy are plummeting, and now are about on par with the electricity generated at big power plants. This new reality intensifies a long-running business and regulatory battle, between the mainline electric utility companies and newer firms that provide solar systems for homeowners' rooftops. Sometimes the rivalry looks more like hardball politics than marketplace economics.
The way rooftop solar typically works, the homeowner leases rooftop panels from a company that owns and installs them. It can be an expensive proposition, but the homeowner saves some money by drawing less power from the utility company's electric plants, and even by selling some solar power back up the electrical grid to the utility.
Utilities say rooftop solar users need to pay their fair share to maintain that grid.
David Owens, a vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association of investor-owned utilities, says they want to preserve the choice that customers have. "If they want to put on rooftop solar, that is their right. And we think it's a great technology. What we are arguing for is fairness in paying for the grid," he says.
The rooftop solar companies say the utilities just want to drive them out of business. "It's a state-by-state battle where the utilities are trying to stop competition," says Bryan Miller, vice president of solar company SunRun and co-chair of a trade group, The Alliance for Solar Choice. Utilities "are monopolies," he says. "Monopolies don't like competition, and that's what these fights are about."
Driving the competition are solar power and other new technologies, which reduce the demand to generate more electricity.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Of course they should pay.
The solar panels just demonstrated that they still have money left.
If a house with solar power panels uses the regular power grid at any time, they should just have a meter and be billed on a per-usage basis like everyone else.
Get off of the grid.
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
http://donkey32.proboards.com/
(more on rocket stove mass heaters)
$1000 Solar Water Heater —Overview
http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/PEXColDHW/Overview.htm
(good learning tool for the system behind the next link)
$2K Solar Space + Water Heating — One Simple DIY System
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/DHWplusSpace/Main.htm
As for PV solar power plants, there are sites all over the Net for learning how they work, how to install them and the best components to install. Get a copy of the National Electrical Code. Study it. Study electrical safety. It’s well worth it. A powerful, self-installed system can use as little as about $60 per month, if you get rid of some of the more outrageously hungry appliances and use better equipment for comforts—especially home-built equipment.
Ding, ding..
end heavy subsidies and tax breaks on solar
If they have absolutely no connection whatsoever to the transmission system then no, otherwise yes.
OMG! One Leftist Utopia Idea just MIGHT be coming to fruition! Solar Power for all! (As IF they invented it, LOL!)
Oh, wait...it’s probably DESTROYING the planet in some manner, like frying some ‘protected’ fly that flies over our solar panels on the roof - so in the next decade we’ll need to BAN solar!
Effing Eco-Weenie Morons.
HOWEVER - I’m not giving up my wind-powered water-pumping windmill on my farm. Eff you! Eff you all! I’ve got mine, so screw the rest of ya, LOL!
*SNORT*
‘New’ sources of energy. Bwa-Haaaaa-Haaaaaa!
*Shakes Head, Walks Away*
Anyone familiar with the term ‘from each according to their means...’ saw it coming.
Huh, we are paying for other people’s medical...duh, yeah.
If I were taking electricity from the grid part of the time and putting it back at other times it would be reasonable to pay for the fixed fee and the delivery fee both ways because I would be using the equipment no matter which way the electricity is flowing.
I have no car*. Should part of my taxes go towards street repair, infrastructure maintenance and new road construction?
* made up for the example. I do have a vehicle.
They shouldn’t have their solar subsidised either
FU and your kind.
better analogy is people who’s kids go toprivate school are forced to also pay public school taxes plus private tuition.
Yes, and that’s wrong. I’m paying to send my kids to school (private) while also paying for school (public) I don’t send them to. Gonna have to home school just so I can afford to not send them to public school.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.