solar cheaper as oil or gas.

[PA5COR]

Now a new report (pdf) from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, as you can imagine, a big player in oil & gas, says that "fossil fuels can no longer compete with solar technologies on price", and that the majority of the $US48 trillion needed to meet global energy demand over the next 20 years will come from renewables.
“Cost is no longer a reason not to proceed with renewables,” the NBAD report says. In some instances, the price of renewables are remarkably low. “The latest solar PV project tendered in Dubai returned a low bid that set a new global benchmark and is competitive with oil at US$10/barrel and gas at US$5/MMBtu.” This was a 200MW bid by ACWA Power at $US0.0584/kWh (5.84c/kwh), without subsidies. Of course, sunnier countries will have lower costs, but over time even cloudier places will see solar eclipse dirty sources.

[K7SGJ]

I don't know about other areas of the country, but Arizona power companies have put rate increases into effect that cause homeowners with solar panels to pay on average $50.00 per month that non-solar users do not pay. The reasoning is that people using solar are not paying a fair share for infrastructure. The only way around it would be to go totally off the grid, not having to use commercial power during non daylight hours, and not selling excess power back to the power companies.

I'm sure that many who have been considering powering their home with solar are having second thoughts, or are considering the added expense of battery backup for the time the solar panels are not generating, and thus going totally off grid. I'm sure that's what I would do if I were to build another place. Of course, if I could afford to do that, I would be able to afford a few hundred acres in the middle of nowhere, too. That would be my ideal dream, but I guess I don't play the lottery enough.

I wonder if in the future, as solar and alternate power options become more cost effective, small communities will begin building their own power generation/distribution systems, or neighbors will pool their power resources, cutting out the power company totally?

[PA5COR]

Here we now have test runs with large battery operated banks that during non solar energy times will provide the 230 volts 50 Hz for an area of houses.
During sunny times the battery banks are charged with the electricity delivered by the connected houses solar systems each good for 9 KW per hour, and so far it all seems to be working quite well.
With energy efficient houses the demand for electricity with this system for 20 -30 houses can be guaranteed even in winter time.
The 20 to 30 houses were chosen to keep the central battery bank and converters relative small, but ccan be made to feed more houses.

Power companies here give a good price for solar energy delivered from private houses, the company in your plac should do as well.
The electricity delivered in the grid means less transport costs through delivering electricity close by, reliefs the grid and power generators from peak electricity and preads the generating much more usefull, transport losses are mostly 7%

keeppeople from generating their own electricity and losing their monopolist situation.
Problem is it won't work for long with the even faster lowering prices of solar installations and if Tesla gets his battery factory rolling and the price drops of the batteries the monopoly is done for for the energy producers.

[K0RGR]

Sorry to hear about Arizona. I sure saw a lot of solar next door in California. I was most amazed by the big solar collectors in the desert. I still haven't seen the Ivanpah solar generators in operation - managed to get there a few days early last year, and a couple hours too late this year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_p..._Mojave_Desert
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_California I believe some newer and even larger plants have just come on line recently, and I'm aware of another solar-molten salt generator project in the desert that will supply power from solar heat around the clock - making solar much more useful as a power source.

Solar is growing very rapidly here in Minnesota. One company has started building 'neighborhood' solar generating plants, distributed through the region. I'm not sure what the status of that project is, because predictably enough, politics has become involved, and because it doesn't involve fossil fuels, it is considered evil. And, of course, we have all the local governments trying hard to find some way to extract their pound of flesh in the form of taxes. It's long been said that we will have solar when someone figures out how to make sunlight stop at a toll booth.

[n2ize]

Problem around this part of the country is you can't go completely off the grid, particularly in the winter. Case and point, my solar panels would have been covered with ice and snow for the past 6-7 weeks. That doesn't include the additional snow and sleets thats coming later this evening into tomorrow on the back of the snow and sleet we got yesterday. On top of it the energy required when the temps dip down into the single digits at night. Now maybe if the solar panels are self heating...then again, it takes up a lot of energy to melt snow and ice so that would siop up a significant amount of the power generated by the panels. I still think its a great idea though and during the spring, summer, and fall could probably get the bulk of your energy from the panels.

[n2ize]

Here we now have test runs with large battery operated banks that during non solar energy times will provide the 230 volts 50 Hz for an area of houses.
During sunny times the battery banks are charged with the electricity delivered by the connected houses solar systems each good for 9 KW per hour, and so far it all seems to be working quite well.
With energy efficient houses the demand for electricity with this system for 20 -30 houses can be guaranteed even in winter time.
The 20 to 30 houses were chosen to keep the central battery bank and converters relative small, but ccan be made to feed more houses.

Power companies here give a good price for solar energy delivered from private houses, the company in your plac should do as well.
The electricity delivered in the grid means less transport costs through delivering electricity close by, reliefs the grid and power generators from peak electricity and preads the generating much more usefull, transport losses are mostly 7%

keeppeople from generating their own electricity and losing their monopolist situation.
Problem is it won't work for long with the even faster lowering prices of solar installations and if Tesla gets his battery factory rolling and the price drops of the batteries the monopoly is done for for the energy producers.

Here in the USA it will never fly. Oil, coal, gas, runs the government and they will make sure they keep people convinced that solar energy is just some kind of left wing hippie euro-sociialist pipe dream. Even nuclear energy can;t make much headway in this country, forget about solar. And as the rest of the world moves forward energy-wise here in Murca we'll regress back to burning wood in hearths or in fire pits.

[K0RGR]

Here in the USA it will never fly. Oil, coal, gas, runs the government and they will make sure they keep people convinced that solar energy is just some kind of left wing hippie euro-sociialist pipe dream. Even nuclear energy can;t make much headway in this country, forget about solar. And as the rest of the world moves forward energy-wise here in Murca we'll regress back to burning wood in hearths or in fire pits.

The optimistic view would be that within a generation, wood will be the only fuel most people can afford, and you'll have to find it and cut it yourself. Our political division is dragging us toward that cliff a little faster every day. "Who Stole the American Dream" is a great book that will drive you nuts if you actually give a crap about 'Murica.

[kb2vxa]

After all is said and done... GET OFF MY LAWN!

[PA5COR]

In Germany E-ON the energy giant that invested heavily in traditional gas coal and nuke power announced a loss over last year of 3 billion euro's....
Other power generating companies heavily investing in wind turbines, solar and other green ways to generate power made huge profits.
THe market and people's choices will force the hand of the energy companies, if they want or not.

[kb2vxa]

That's how the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) interference issue was settled. The market defeated it but the ARRL took all the credit... naturally. LMAO