Posted on 08/16/2018 4:49:07 PM PDT by conservativehusker
While visiting the Rehoboth area of Massachusetts I noticed a lot of home with Solar Panels. I find it difficult to believe that the payback would be worth it in an area that seems to be clouded over alot.
Anybody out there that has some inside knowledge of the Solar market? Good tax benefits????
Solar Subsidies Scam Taxpayers And Homeowners
https://www.investors.com/politics/policy-analysis/solar-installation-subsidies-hurt-taxpayers-homeowners-utilities/
Hopefully it will end this year!
Based off of what I heard while on a site up in Mass, the number of panels is actually causing issues with the grid. To fix that problem, the state is now subsidizing battery storage systems to go along with the panels.
A good conservative would know these things only survive because of market distortions by lefties (endless subsidies, government-mandated Renewable Energy Standards, and tax benefits flowing to the few friends m the many. You should immediately stop even thinking about solar. If you do it, turn in your FR membership card and join DU.
The map shows how little solar energy hits most of the US. It also shows the gullibility of the economic illiterates in the northeast who have destroyed their roofs with solar panels.
there are fields of panels up here that sit covered in snow most of the winter, also we just had a 6 week stretch of rain nearly every day. PV up here is a joke but the greenies are hell bent in de-stabilizing the grid.
That was the answer I expected. Lots of tax-subsidized ecological virtue signaling.
Possibly s #4 and #8 are especially true!
Possibly s #4 and #8 are especially true!
Two Framingham companies, SolarFlair Energy, Inc. and Framingham
Salvage Co. teamed up to build an 800KW Solar Farm in Framingham, MA.
Diesel generators 50 times larger are now playing an important role in power generation. From April, 2012:
New local diesel power stations: An economic assessment
By Richard J.Wills and Bryan G.ReubenAbstract
A recent investigation examined the economic potential for electricity generation in the UK using large slow-speed two-stroke diesel engines of around 40 MW unit output. Large diesels are a high efficiency technology, resilient to fuel quality, and with high reliability. Economic analysis compared diesels with other generating options for a range of fuel scenarios and discount rates. Merit order potential and total costs were also assessed. The diesels show superior economic qualities, both in terms of investment criteria and high merit position. They are economically comparable with combined cycle gas turbines, but combined cycle plant is essentially large-scale, whereas diesels in 40 MW unit sizes can provide small-scale, high-efficiency local generation. Slow-speed diesels represent a sound investment for electricity supply. Diesels in local power stations in southern England would increase supply security and diversity. They are compatible with a cautious investment approach and are appropriate for the new market conditions in electrcity supply.
And yet they clear cut the “precious” forests to put up such monstrosities. Hypocrites! File under “It’s ok when DEMS do it!”
As long as the govt. is willing to subsidize their inefficiency with your tax dollars, it is a good deal.
It's not too bad a deal in Southern Arizona if you intend staying in your home to recoup the initial outlay.
There were decent tax credits and a solar company was paying for the panels and taking the energy and selling it back to the utilities.
The homeowner only wins after several years.
They came through my neighborhood and i was going to have to cut down a huge oak in my front yard. No thanks.
There a couple of companies that will install the panels for free but charge you for the use of the electricity. Most of the recent conversion are this type of set-up. They claim, that they will beat the electric rates. Electric rates are high here but our winters are long and dark with a lot of snow.
I can’t speak to the validity of this, but my friend from Norway claims that solar powered generation is ‘pretty good’ there because the PV cells operate more efficiently at lower ambient temperatures.
Maybe he just is trying to make lemonade out of lemons, as I can’t picture a boost in efficiency overcoming 20+ hours of dusk/darkness in the winter. Summertime perhaps, but you’d need a pretty big battery to tide you over during the winter months!
Thanks for the feed back - I wasn’t asking because I wanted to get panels .. just wondering what the deal was - I told my wife I thought it was a way for good little liberals to show how much they care - kinda like giant safety pins!
“ I covered my whole roof (Even the angles pointing away from the sun) so I care more than you” That type of thing
We have a lot more sun out in the mid-west but I never see that many panels.
I live in Mass, am an electrician, have installed solar, some even in Rehoboth. I’m not ashamed. Solar is not for everyone but properly sized it can cut one’s dependence on the Grid, some people prefer to blindly subsidize utilities, that’s cool.
Currently I’m installing a 150 KW solar system in Vermont, in that case the total electricity generated from solar and small hydro on that particular utility circuit exceeds the demand, the utility exports the additional power elsewhere within their own grid and to neighboring utilizes. So solar can and does work in NE and the utilities earn revenue from the solar systems without any investment.
Storage Batteries, they can be installed with or without a solar PV system. The concept is to store electricity during off peak periods (usually mornings and mid day) at a lower rate and to then self consume the stored energy during peak hours (late afternoon and evenings). The idea is to never export to the grid but to self consume what is self generated. While most utilities charge a flat fee for usage, some are now beginning to charge different rates depending on the time of day via smart metering. Beyond usage fees they are also charging delivery or connection fees, they are charging in some cases usually commercial customers “peak demand” fees - based on the highest peak usage from the previous six months, “reserving” that capacity if it is needed or not.
One town in Mass, Spencer has a tractor trailer sized battery (not sure of its electrical rating) located in its substation. The town has a municipal power company and it uses the battery to control its peak usage - that alone has allowed for a pay back in less than six years, they can also power the police and fire department for 14 days without power.
So like anything else, it depends on what you are using it for and how it is designed.
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