Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The True Costs of Solar Energy Start To Come Clearer

Wow, it never quits.

Solar power will cost California "non-users" as much as $700 million annually.
Pacific Gas & Electric, the state's biggest utility, will pass on about $700 million in annual costs to people without solar systems when the state hits the cap, according to Denny Boyles, a spokesman. Southern California Edison will transfer about $400 million annually, according to spokesman David Song, for a total of $1.3 billion from the three utilities.
That's about 3.9 percent of the $33.5 billion spent on electricity in 2010 in California, based on the latest figures available from the U.S. Energy Department.
"The problem exacerbates with each new system that goes on a roof," said Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities Inc.
"Utilities will need to get reimbursed for their grid costs by a shrinking number of consumers."
California is already among the top five states for most expensive electric rates, about 14 cents/kwh; compare to North Dakota's 7 cents/kwh.

Also, as posted earlier, renewable energy will actually increase requirements for fossil fuels.

So the "haves" will pass on higher utility costs to "not-haves." 

My hunch is that GE makes the new meters that have to be retro-fitted on all the homes that put solar panels on their roofs. Good, bad, or indifferent when it comes to solar energy, it is what it is.

2 comments:

  1. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/instability-in-power-grid-comes-at-high-cost-for-german-industry-a-850419.html

    I don't know if we will be bad off as German but it could happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, isn't that interesting.

      It might explain why Google and Apple are developing their own power sources; and even though it might not make economic sense to go with solar, forget about the type of energy Apple and Google are using. Just focus on the fact that they might be trying to be independent of the grid. But that's just one story line from the linked article.

      The big story is, of course, the challenge of renewable energy that folks are not being told about. Solar and wind will require more fossil fuel, not less (posted earlier).

      Very interesting linked article; thank you for taking time to write.

      Delete

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