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Giant Utilities Try to Kill Solar Power
One of the main reasons that solar energy is growing so fast in California is “net metering” … i.e. crediting rooftop solar users for surplus power their systems create, which is fed back into the grid for use by other customers.
Currently, rooftop solar owners are credited at the same rate they would pay the utility for electricity.
Not only is net metering a huge incentive to buy solar panels, but it is part of a wave of decentralized energy production which could help to solve our protect against terrorism, fascism and destruction of our health, environment and economy.
But the giant California utilities – PG&E, Southern California Energy and San Diego Gas & Electric – are determined to kill net metering, because it cuts into the profitability of their centralized energy production business.
The Los Angeles Times notes:
For new purchases of rooftop solar, the utility proposals could wipe out the potential savings on power — the main incentive for buying the systems.
Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity, describes a “catastrophic” future for rooftop solar if the California Public Utilities Commission approves the proposals …
Utility proposals call for crediting solar users at about half the current rates. Utilities would also charge monthly fees, based on the size of a homeowner’s solar system.
***
The proposed fees could make solar power systems unaffordable — which is exactly what utilities want, Rive and other solar proponents say.
“This is a clear indication that the utilities are trying to stop competition and the solar industry,” said Rive, whose San Mateo, Calif., company operates in 19 states.
***
Utility critics point to a different motivation: Rooftop solar poses a threat to the utilities’ century-old business model of centralized power and the regulatory framework that supports it. In essence, the more utilities spend to maintain the grid, the more money they make.
The industry trade association, the Edison Electric Institute, referred to rooftop solar and its consumer-friendly cousin, energy efficiency, as “disruptive challenges” in a 2013 report.
The LA Times makes it clear that this is not just a California issue … but is a nationwide campaign:
The debate’s outcome could shape solar policies throughout the nation, as utilities seek to tinker with solar costs. Other states look to California as an innovator on solar policy. The state by far leads the nation in deployment of rooftop and utility-scale solar technology, followed by Arizona, New Jersey, North Carolina and Nevada.
***
A recent assessment by the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center found that 16 of the 44 states with net-metering policies were considering or enacting changes. Wisconsin and Arizona recently imposed significant increases in the amounts that utilities can charge solar users.
After the Arizona policy took effect, applications for rooftop solar installations dropped from hundreds a month to a handful, said Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Assn.
“I think it’s clear nationally,” Gallagher said, “that the utilities are concerned about the impact on their business with customers generating their own electricity, and they’re pushing back. What California does may legitimize some of these proposals in other states.”
The Washington Post reported in March:
Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid ….
If demand for residential solar continued to soar, traditional utilities could soon face serious problems, from “declining retail sales” and a “loss of customers” to “potential obsolescence,” according to a presentation prepared for the group. “Industry must prepare an action plan to address the challenges,” it said.
The warning, delivered to a private meeting of the utility industry’s main trade association, became a call to arms for electricity providers in nearly every corner of the nation. Three years later, the industry and its fossil-fuel supporters are waging a determined campaign to stop a home-solar insurgency that is rattling the boardrooms of the country’s government-regulated electric monopolies.
***
“The utilities are fighting tooth and nail,” said Scott Peterson, director of the Checks and Balances Project, a Virginia nonprofit that investigates lobbyists’ ties to regulatory agencies. Peterson, who has tracked the industry’s two-year legislative fight, said the pivot to public utility commissions moves the battle to friendlier terrain for utilities. The commissions, usually made up of political appointees, “have enormous power, and no one really watches them,” Peterson said.
***
Solar’s share of global energy production is climbing steadily, and a study last week by researchers from Cambridge University concluded that photovoltaics will soon be able to out-compete fossil fuels, even if oil prices drop to as low as $10 a barrel.
***
But the arrival of cheaper solar technology has also brought an unexpected challenge to the industry’s bottom line: As millions of residential and business customers opt for solar, revenue for utilities is beginning to decline. Industry-sponsored studies have warned the trend could eventually lead to a radical restructure of energy markets, similar to earlier upheavals with phone-company monopolies.
“One can imagine a day when battery-storage technology or micro turbines could allow customers to be electric grid independent,” said a 2013 Edison study. “To put this into perspective, who would have believed 10 years ago that traditional wire line telephone customers could economically ‘cut the cord’?”
***
Two-and-a-half years later, evidence of the “action plan” envisioned by Edison officials can be seen in states across the country. Legislation to make net metering illegal or more costly has been introduced in nearly two dozen state houses since 2013. Some of the proposals were virtual copies of model legislation drafted two years ago by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a nonprofit organization with financial ties to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
There is bipartisan support for solar. As the LA Times writes:
Frustration with utilities has led consumers to begin mounting their own fights, and it has created some unlikely political alliances among grass-roots groups.
Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party, has campaigned in Wisconsin and Indiana to protect net-metering laws. Dooley helped expand solar in Georgia, and she is helping lead an effort in Florida to expand solar in the Sunshine State.
Dooley has tapped libertarians and environmentalists such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, in addition to conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition.
And the Washington Post notes:
In Republican strongholds, such as Indiana and Utah … anti-solar legislation came under a surprisingly fierce attack from free-market conservatives and even evangelical groups, many of which have installed solar panels on their churches.
“Conservatives support solar — they support it even more than progressives do,” said Bryan Miller, co-chairman of the Alliance for Solar Choice and a vice president of public policy for Sunrun, a California solar provider. “It’s about competition in its most basic form. The idea that you should be forced to buy power from a state-sponsored monopoly and not have an option is about the least conservative thing you can imagine.”
In other words, it’s not left-versus-right … instead, it’s you versus the giant corporations, which are in a malignant, symbiotic relationship with corrupt government officials.
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Certain realities are bumping into Religion and magical expectations. If we are rational, then we should act like it, not act on faith. We should act based on reasoned expectations and realities.
Here is the truth of the situation:
1) 4/5ths (80%) of the known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground to avert disaster. That means we can use only 20%...simple math, right? If you claim to be a climate scientist and disagree with those rough numbers, fine. Maybe we can actually take 25% for our use today? OK. But only magic and Religion would make you think we can take even more.
http://www.thenation.com/article/80-percent-worlds-fossil-fuels-must-sta...
So what does that say about all the investments in fossil fuels/companies, reserves, drilling rights and agreements? Oops.
2) It turns out that the rate of rise of CO2 has now exceeded 2ppm per year. The rate of increase is INCREASING! This is what the objective data tells us.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/webdata/ccgg/trends/co2_data_mlo_anngr.png
And the measurement of atmospheric CO2 is at levels exceeding all of humanities existence.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/webdata/ccgg/trends/co2_data_mlo.png
This is just graphed data. It is not spin. So we are at 400ppm now and rising at 2+ppm/year. Is that unusual? Oops! Hell yes. Will the hand of a magical sky being save our bacon at the last moment? Let us act as though that answer is "NO!", right?
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/images/temperature-change-s...
So the concern about Solar/Clean Energy being made more costly to consumers is more than just a economic argument or argument about fairness and your financial stake in the deal. It really is about stopping a process of Carbon Dioxide generation with all the spin off issues that that implies. Global warming is just one issue. Acidification of the worlds oceans is another separate and more direct problem that NO ONE sees as a benefit.
One other thought to consider: Classical economics is predicated on a model of infinite growth. Think about how radically economic policy needs to change when scarcity (the elasticity of the environment) is taken into consideration.
I put a modest 7.5 kW system on my roof in Arizona last year. It cost upwards of $20k. I spreadsheeted the living daylights out of the investment beforehand. Even with a federal tax incentive and "net metering", the payback is expected to be about ten years.
No, that's not a good investment from a financial perspective. I did it anyway because I don't want to put another atom of Cesium or Plutonium into the environment than I have to; and my wife wanted to lower our monthly bills as we head into retirement.
Arizona's big utilities (Arizona Public Service and Salt River Project) pushed through legislation to effectively eliminate "net metering" shortly after my solar system was installed. Luckily my system is grandfathered.
Take away "net metering" and the payback time goes to NEVER. Goodbye solar power. Even in Arizona.
Net metering is complete bullshit. It's theft. Some stores in the mall (e.g. Justice) sell finished loom band bracelets for kids too stupid or too lazy to make their own. Imagine if kids could just march in to Justice and demand that Justice buy their home made loom bracelets for the retail price, thanks to government force.
The net metering craziness has to stop. If you are pushing solar electricity back into the grid, 1. you should pay the same transmission fee per kw that you pay to suck power out of the grid to push power back into the grid, and 2. you should be reimbursed the wholesale spot price, not the retail price, for generation.
Rooftop residential solar should earn the owner it's 'net' actual value--not a ridiculous, legislated windfall at the expense of other electricity customers.
Poor Old Richard, you forget that it costs utilities much more than even their retail price per kw to construct new capacity. So when I and thousands of other Californians used our own money to add to PG&E's capacity in the summer (peak demand), receiving only the retail price for our power was, and is, was below the market price for peak power. Indeed, that is why they not only agreed to net metering, but also encouraged it. Without it, PG&E would have been forced to build large "peak power plants" (i.e., the Calpine type) at a cost much greater than what I and other solar providers have been "paid" via net metering.
Now that power use has flatlined due to slower growth and sufficient capacity exists for the forseable future, PG&E wants to change the rules --- after I spent $15k adding to their capacity. No, net metering is not "complete bullshit". It was the utility company promising me and others that if we spent millions of our own money adding to PG&E's summertime capacity we would receive a rate for our power that would give us a reasonable return on the investment of our capital (which, by the way, has been less than a 10% IRR). I call that capitalism. What do you call it?
Oh, and there is not frickin' "legislative windfall". Net metering rates are set by the PUC, just as all rates are, including yours. The Legislature only made net metering possible-- it did not set the rate for homeowner-generated power.
"If you are pushing solar electricity back into the grid, 1. you should pay the same transmission fee per kw that you pay to suck power out of the grid to push power back into the grid, and 2. you should be reimbursed the wholesale spot price, not the retail price, for generation."
That's fine... Puts the small generators on an equal footing with the large ones... Just require the utility to
buy everything I can produce, and that will be okay...
"If you are pushing solar electricity back into the grid, 1. you should pay the same transmission fee per kw that you pay to suck power out of the grid to push power back into the grid, and 2. you should be reimbursed the wholesale spot price, not the retail price, for generation."
That's fine... Puts the small generators on an equal footing with the large ones... Just require the utility to
buy everything I can produce, and that will be okay...
somebody from CNBC infiltrate Zerohedge? Tylers? I guess killing coal and doubling the price of electricity doesn't count?
Coal is getting slaughtered by Fracked Gas... $/MMBTU, gas is way cheaper and easier to handle.
Net metering exists because of the artificially low interest rates and massive taxpayer funded subsidies. .
So why is Solar taking off in Asia and Africa?
mine are not subsidized, I paid full rate...... about a buck a watt for panels and another buck for the Enphase inverters tied into the grid, but why trouble the utility with details ...... Phuk em..... mostly just to offset my grow op anyway ...... and no I don't intend to apply for a farm credit either.....
Anybody who puts solar panels on their roof but doesn't also set up adequate battery storage capacity,
and then believes big utility companies should provide the energy buffering for free to them,
is simply delusional.
So any company that starts a 2 MW arc furnace without adequate energy buffering is also
delusional?
There is no difference between a big demand that shows up for 8-12 hours and then goes away
and a small residential demand that shows up for 8-12 hours and goes away during the daytime.
Do you have reading comprehension issues?
I talked about solar panel owners, i.e. energy producers, that by definition not always feed at peak demand time.
Energy consumers are in some way paying for their uneven load profile, in their electricity bill.
Why should solar panel owners get net metering, so get paid the same price per self-produced kWh in the morning (when there is less demand), but then are able to consume energy after dark in the early evening at peak demand time, for the same price per kWh?
I have placed a solar system on my rooftop this summer and have made the 2nd tier rate disapear from my hydro bill (at least in summer) because of such I am now more energy consious than ever. I also have a solar hot water tube heater on my roof, I have had it for a few years now...All summer I have free hot water I also use it to heat my tile floors...
I'm in Malaysia at the moment and I just got my power and water bill for the month: $17 at today's exchange rate. Given that I run the AC a lot it's a very pleasant surprise.
I corroborate that experience.
While there, I was conservative like at home here, and the landlord called to ask why the electricity cost was so low.
To be accurate, I A/C'd the sleeping room and left all the others at ambient in a 15th floor flat. Water? seemed like pennies.
Make no mistake, the utilities are very serious about fighting roof top solar. They will do anything to beat this back. Soon, having panels installed will be near impossible due to regulation and fees.
Everyone in my area is leasing solar panels because the utility companies doubled electric rates in the past two years. If you put panels on the roof, you get a $.15 per kWh rebate on your electric bill essentially letting you pay the rate you used to. I paid $.11 per kWh four years ago, now my base rate is $.38. If I had panels I would pay $.15 per kWh with the other credits. I don't see how I win here.
The panels are supposed to be tied into the grid having you generate power for the utility. That is why you get the rebate. But you had to install the panels, not the utility company. You also have towns putting in solar farms, but the power has to be generated for the main utility, not used by the town. I have a small credit on my electric bill for having a solar farm in my town. $.05 per kWh, WOW!!! How much does that solar farm generate for the utility? The town paid for the panels, using tax dollars.
It is a win win for the utility. They get power they didn't pay for and get to charge people who don't have panels double what they did two years ago. Solar City and other panel installation companies make out like bandits.
It is an insane situation. I'm trying to figure out where the consumer wins here.
I am saving roughly $70-100/mth since switching to solar. My out-of-pocket cost with the electric utility company was $190-220/mth and now I pay $22 to the utility and $105 to the solar company. If my monthly usage exceeds the power generated by solar, the electric company is happy to charge for the difference. But in the past year, their bill has only exceeded $22 a couple of times. In the end, $70-100/mth isn't huge but it's still $1000 a year in savings.
Those solar farms are nothing but a fucking joke. A money pit...
A tribute to Ozymandias someday..
http://www.utterpower.com/an-historic-note-will-ivanpagh-be-referenced-i...
I suspect that your state has a mandate requiring electric providers to get a certain percentage of their power from wind or solar. Even Texas requires 5% wind power (thanks to Rick Perry). NC just passed a wind power mandate. The cost may be exorbitant but usually the utility is allowed to pass on the cost to the consumer. So the cost of the stuff is not a big deal to the company as cost is passed on. So usually the idiots here are the people in state government who set the requirement (Rick Perry being a world-class idiot).
Because green arseholes like yourself directly push up electricity prices for everyone else by taking advantage of government weaponry to force their providers to subsidise your shitty uneconomical, planet ruining bullshit.
Solar is a scam which wastes resources while driving economic recession.
If it's so great, why does the government need to force people to pay for it at gunpoint?
Wow, this site has done a full 180 and now a Fascist receives all upvotes!
So I guess when the government forced me over the past 60 years to pay for the government-subsidized utility companies' return on capitial invested AND a "reasonable return" to their guaranteed Wall Street bondholers --- at gunpoint --- that was okay with you? But when I spend my own capital adding to the utility's peak capacity (the most valuable power one can produce), and the utility company agrees to pay me only the far lower average retail price per kwh, that is a "scam", I am a "green arsehole" and avoiding any need to build another coal/nuclear/other power plant in your backyard is "planet ruining bullshit".
Got it.
Well, pal, I beg to differ. What I and thousands of other Californians did is invest our capital for a modest return (less than 10%) so that the utility company could avoid building new, very expensive peaker plants. I did this in 2009, and although many characterized us as "eco-nuts" I did it pure and simply for the money. I was nearing retirement and watching my utility rates rise 5% or more a year. So I put some of my savings on my roof and agreed to sell its surplus production to you and other less-forsighted ratepayers at BELOW peak power market prices. I thought it was a fair deal, but the point is it was a voluntary CONTRACT between somebody investing capital (me) and the representative (PG&E) of those who chose to consume instead (you and other non-solar ratepayers).
Now that total demand is flatlining and you and other ratepayers are no longer facing capacity issues (remember the Enron deregulation bullshit?), you want to change that contract and are just peeing in your pants with excitement. I don't know what philosophy or political beliefs drive you, but they ain't capitalism or the rule of law.
If it's so Awful, why are conservatives fighting it to death?
Solar power is basically unicorn poop. If you really believe in free markets don't have governments require the local power company to buy some homeowner's roof top electric homebrew. If the output is truly valuable (it isn't) some private company wouldl buy it voluntarily (just kidding - no one will buy it voluntarily).
Green power (wind and solar) is not only expensive - it is unreliable and noisy. Noisy power is essentially like dirty water and dirty water needs filtering. Green Electricity needs to be passed through massive capacitors to clean it up to where you can do simple things like power electric clocks.
??? I have been living on wind and solar for eight years. Solar is silent and people often ask me about my wind generator since it is so quiet (most are noisy). My solar panels generate even on cloudy days, and the wind gen generates starting at about 7 mph. Both go through a $125 charge controller. Four cheap golf cart batteries easily run my fridge and lights overnight. Most of the time too much power is generated, which is sent to a silent power dump (resistive heater). The combination of solar and wind is very reliable, and nobody buys or benefits from my excess power, much more is generated than I use and it is completely wasted.
I do have access to AC power, which I use to run my water distiller, toaster, shop vac and power tools. My electric bill is usually $5/month.
Solar and wind "farms" are a waste, solar and wind energy is best generated on a small scale where it is used, it is too inefficient to be transported long distances like water and coal generated electricity.
passed through massive capacitors to clean it up to where you can do simple things like power electric clocks
What are you talking about? I use an inexpensive full sine wave inverter from Amazon to charge my phone and computer ... no "massive capacitors" or "clean it up" to run anything.
Reliability? The AC here goes out many times each year, sometimes for days; in eight years my DC power has never failed me.
It's very frustrating that there is not a single comment about the power distribution infrastructure. It's only fair that the solar power owners get less than the retail rate because the utility still bears the costs of upkeep on the distribution lines.
FWIW: Distributed power source present challenges. people don't understand much about the grid and we have ridicular articles like this one posted by GW.
1. Phase Noise\Syncronization. the DC to AC grid tied solar inverters can't 100% sync to the grid. This create phase noise with causes all sorts of problems including transformer failures, Especally when there are thousands of individual grid tied systems banging away into the grid at the same time, all with slight timing errors and less than perfect harmonics.
2. Load balancing. Grid distribute was originally set up from source lines to local distribution lines. When Power is added from the distribution lines it can cause imbalances as some lines have excess capacities and other too much demand. This can least to distribution transformer saturation that can cause transformers to overheat.
3. Matching power loads. Solar panel systems are subject to clouds. It might be a perfect sunny day, but at some point clouds can move in causing a sudden drop in ouput for a period (might be 5 minutes or 5 hours). This makes it difficult to adjust the power input to match the load since it can take 20 to 30 minutes to make adjustments. This leads to more frequent brownouts and power surges.
FWIW: If people want solar that just go off grid or not try to sell power into the grid. If Solar was a real threat and large number of consumers moved off-grid, then this issue would be a problem. I doubt any Power company complains about off grid systems.
"battery-storage technology" - store your solar plus cheap overnight power, don't feed the grid.
Agreed!
That's "ridicular"...
Yup, I don't do enough Proof reading! Unfortunately, I get frequently interrupted when writing comments since I reply during working hours. Some times, I will start a reply and come back 30 minutes later losing track, or sometimes I just send since I have something I need to work on and I know it will going to take a while. Still working and it almost 11 PM, Started the day at about 8:30 AM. Someone has to pay for all those damn entitlements!
You do great work GW but... having been involved with net metering (I was instrumental in salvaging it and getting annualized net meteing rules adopted in many states, when enron tried to kill it back in 98-2000)., I will solidly disagree and refute any evidence you have on this one. The idea was that the the customer paid all costs to connect provided there would be no harm done from an engineering standpoint to the grid, and, to their premesis. SInce then like last time during the energy crisis, you have every charlatan getting in on this and the RATEPAYERS and TAXPAYERS subsidize this with them cashing in and going out of business (after cashing in) as they did before and are doing once again.
In other areas, improper installation has resulted in structure fires and rooftop installation make it difficult for fire personnal to safely ventilate structure fires. I could go on for pages but digress.
On the commercial side, again, the same applies where subsidies are concerned and the almighty REC trading sceme that may bring in the carbon tax. You should understand that many of those at Enron and affiliated witth them are the top players. If you, sir or madam, want to put up a wind turbine or panels, then please bear the costs and comply with reasonable electric and other codes without having the rest of us pay for it directly or indirectly without bothering the neighbors too.
I would be happy to debate these and other issues with you and can assure you I am not paid by or am affiliated with one side or the other.
There are appropriate uses for the systems however tring to do this ala cashing in the Duncan YO-YO craze is bad economic policy and in my professional opinion, potentailly hazardous to unskilled homeowners and first responders who may be summoned for an emergency.
LJ
" Currently, rooftop solar owners are credited at the same rate they would pay the utility for electricity."
Nobody can sell at cost then absorb line losses, storage and distribution expenses. That business model won't hold.
The idea is that the Energy Companies save by not having to invest in additional production facilities because rooftop solar is adding to the grid.
Here are 5 videos from a guy who is full tilt anti Dana Durnford, and trying to show how the Pacific is not dead....
note---even his U/W videos look pretty crappy....so this is the best of the best to debunk. Have a look
Facts help
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2015/11/status-of-canadian-pacific-...
OGE never touched net-metering, but they decided to build a big-ass solar farm, then send a brochure bragging about how you can buy solar energy from them!
It matters not, I'm going off-grid when I have the chance, then I'm ordering the power company to get their lines off my lot.
http://www.utterpower.com/an-historic-note-will-ivanpagh-be-referenced-i...
Do you think? or do you just react?
After getting fed up with all the Green BS that my local electric utility was propagandizing in their monthly newsletter, you know curly light bulbs, solar panels, and all the rest of their happy propaganda shit, I explained to my Electric Utility managers 7 years ago that, they are the only business that I do business with who is constantly telling me to use less and less of their product, and very soon I as well as others would have no more use for the power that they generate to sell to me and everyone else, the manager just stood there in amazement, trying to figure out what I had just told him. You play with fire you get burned, you jump in bed with Goober and the public utilities commission and you get regulated out of business. These fucktard progressive liberals will not be happy till they kill us all.
While solar panels have something to add, I suspect micro-turbines (such as Capstone Turbine, CPST, I own a hundred shares) would be an even better solution. ONE moving part, natural gas power, 5kW is the smallest they make (or did, haven't been on their website for a while) and that would power nearly everyone's home except Al Gore's. Plus, you have power when the grid goes down - I am thinking of putting one in the next house I move to, once my kid finishes college.
Solar can work for most residential uses if you have enough roof / batteries to see you through the night. If not, learn how to do without. Our ancestors did.
Our ancestors lived in caves too.
CPST, is an interesting technology. Heat, Power, small unit, but the question is $/W, $/KWH and
a gas network can go offline just like an electric grid. The issue is "Is there a sufficient capacity
in the pipeline network to meet demand"... During a blizzard in DC in 1994, we had a lot of ice and
a week of sub-zero weather. Ice was knocking down Power lines, Extreme cold was demanding
so much heat that the gas systems were losing pressure and the cold was freezing water pipes all over
the region.
While that was a rare event, the larger issue is nat gas prices swing wildly...
It would seem like to me that the panels and hardware should be sized large enough to make it all free ad allow the utility companies to change or go out of business. I like the go out of business part, but what about jobs for those who are unemployed?.........There's always Wal-Mart! Hey! There's an idea!
I'm pro solar, but once again, everyone is against Big Government EXCEPT their Big Government.
This is a form of welfare for solar firms and installers.
Nobody is stopping you from getting solar, but my utility bill should not subsidize yours.
I'm against net metering, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul.
so you should benefit for free from the energy produced by the solar system? Sounds like you want all the folks who own solar systems to give you free energy.
The utilities are either going to buy the energy on the commodities market or from solar producers. In either case, they are buying the power and then selling it to you to use. This is why Net-metering works.
JC you are wrong. It has nothing similar to robbing Peter to Pay Paul.
Solar investors simply stop paying an electric bill.
Now those who haven't done solar need to foot the bill for the "grid".
The grid is already paid for, and maintenance is very small, its wires and transformers....things that have high reliability.
But solar helps the grid. It feeds power to the grid when the grid needs it the most. And solar users add load to the the grid, when the grid needs the load, at night.
So please explain why you think this is robbing peter to pay paul?
From a 2013 article...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/08/surprise-the-u-s-...
Standard Disclaimer: What's a hundred plus billion amongst friends every year...
Gotta support the Unions by raising prices.
Yes it should. Business is an ocean of sharks who will eat you in one bite if you let them. I'm talking about you AND your neighbor and everybody else here. I guess the real GOLDEN RULE is, don't be afraid to make some money! That is where rule of law comes in, something that's been disregarded by the "Athoriities" depending on your ability to pay nowadays.
Anyway, solar, despite all the contrary arguments, solar give clean energy, somewhat, I know manufacturing, bla, bla. I also know you don't give a fuck because you're gonna die soon...er. so just think that maybe if these crazy murderous motherfuckers manage to not destroy the world, maybe your 12 thumbed great great transon will have some air! So shut up and pay the bill you cheap fuck!