Energy Prices in Europe Hit Records After Wind Stops Blowing. Heavy reliance on wind power, coupled with a shortage of natural gas, has led to a spike in energy prices

Wall Street Journal ^ | September 13, 2021 | Joe Wallace

[Tell It Right]

We have nothing like that. In Alabama we don't have what many solar users refer to as "net metering". That's a phrase that means the power company will buy back power from you at a decent rate (at least somewhat comparable to the rate they charge you for power) without making you pay a large monthly fee to "subscribe" to the service.

My power company charges a large monthly fee for solar users to subscribe to a service that pays us very little for the kWh we sell back to them. So that whole buyback thing ain't on the table for me at all. I don't sell back any power to them. My math on my system paying for itself in the long run is based on how much power I produce on my own, thus freeing me from having to buy as much from the power co., and assuming a 3% inflation rate on power rates which means it saves me more dollars next year, then more the next, etc. (Though I'm afraid of energy spikes of a lot more than 3%, which is really the whole reason I did this, as a hedge in case the Dims make our power rates "necessarily skyrocket" like Obama and Occasional Cortex promise).

But that works for me only because everything else lines up correctly. I have a metal roof (no need to remove my solar panels every 10 years to replace a shingle roof). I live in the south where we have plenty of sun and most of our power consumption is for A/C that runs even more during the part of the year we have the most sun (summer) and more during the day than at night. Part of my roof faces the south (so my solar panels are pointing more directly at the sun, especially during the winter). And no trees shade my roof. If you don't have all of those variables working in your favor, solar probably won't be worth it.