The government and greens are happy to push solar precisely because it doesn’t work (at least not cost effectively). The funny thing is that if “everyone” starts installing solar power the pricing will come down on everything related including batteries. Once that happens solar could actually be a viable replacement for grid power. What then would the fedscum and greens do to stop it?
As with electric cars, I couldn’t care less about the “green” aspect of it. If it actually is, great. But, that’s not the reason I’m interested. I’m interested in the potential self-sufficiency in the event of a loss of grid power, and I’m interested in insulating myself from what looks to be much more costly electricity coming down the pike by regulatory design. Make no mistake, a properly configured and installed solar system “works” but there are factors leading to possible brownouts such as a lengthy series of overcast days. The panels themselves can fail. And, despite the fact that cost of these panels has dropped considerably, it’s still very dicey to make it pay out. Those who are not concerned about payout have led the way for political and philosophical reasons with which I do not agree, but I’m not going to throw the potential benefit for my own political and philosophical reasons out the window because of it.
I did some napkin calculations years back and came to the conclusion that solar cells would have to be about 80% efficient to really be cost-effective. (Initial price, maintenance, cell-lifetime, etc.)
It's probably a little on the high side.
The funny thing is that if “everyone” starts installing solar power the pricing will come down on everything related including batteries. Once that happens solar could actually be a viable replacement for grid power. What then would the fedscum and greens do to stop it?
The same thing they always do: add more regulations.
Probably requiring certified technicians to do any work at all on them, at the very least.