I am not sure about this project but residential solar if you are on the grid is a joke. Consider the basics of a solar system for my home in the Denver area. A 4.2 KW system costs about $33,000 with anticipated electricity cost savings of $700 per year yielding a pay back period close to 50 years. The system seems to be a poor way to generate electricity unless you are off the grid.
Now consider the enormous subsidies. After subsidies from the power company and tax credits, the cost is under $8,000. The power company must offset your electricity usage. With artificially rising electricity rates, the system looks a little promising.
As I understand from discussions with a contractor, residential solar is a long, long way from economic viability. He said small incremental efficiency increases occur every year but he did not see any major improvements on the horizon. I understand their are technologies that will reduce the cost but not improve efficiency much.
It is simply outrageous that residential solar is given huge subsidies. It is a prime example of the waste of scarce capital on politically favored (but economically non viable) energy production.
“It is simply outrageous that residential solar is given huge subsidies”
Yep and I won’t take that money. Who knows what kind of strings are attached and I won’t steal my neighbors money that way.
Solar has its uses. But residential or even commercial for Walmart isn’t one of them.
Google spent an enormous amount of money on solar for their data centers. It give them about 20 seconds of electricity each year.