I thought this would interest you since you have a good buy-back policy.

I think they should have a switch that completely turns off the grid when using your solar.  You can turn it back on when you've gone through a spell of no sun.  I remember when they were discussing not allowing people to go without being on the grid.  What is the point of having solar, if you can't use it without paying the energy companies.

Point, after this last hurricane, we went almost a month without electricity.  My bil has solar, but he couldn't use it because of the laws.  Unless he has power, he can't use his solar.  He too had to use a generator and pay the enormous gas bill for using a generator for that long.

Yes, it can help with your monthly bills, in the summer mostly.  Otherwise, it's useless until we get these stupid regulations off our, the American peoples' backs.

I agree the regulations on solar are a mess.  It’s different from state to state.  We have a water crisis and are supposed to cut back. Then water prices go up because they aren’t selling enough water. They can’t have it both ways.

Showtalk said...

California has one of the country's most successful programs to subsidize residential rooftop solar. But utilities say it doesn't leave them enough money to make the grid resilient to climate change.

ROFLMAO... 

Showtalk said...

California has one of the country's most successful programs to subsidize residential rooftop solar. But utilities say it doesn't leave them enough money to make the grid resilient to climate change.

What investment is required for climate change? Climate is changing all the time and you cannot prevent it. And regardless of whether you use solar, wind, water or other method of electricity production... what ever is produce by "non-coal/oil/nuke" methods, reduces/offsets the amount needed to be produced by "coal/oil/nuke"!!!

They claim climate change requires money. But how are they going to prevent climate change? (* ROFLMAO *) What are they planning on doing about climate change?... Will what they're planning work?... How much will it cost?... And isn't there a cheaper/better solution elsewhere?

FWIW

Dee (DLAINEDEE) said...

I think they should have a switch that completely turns off the grid when using your solar.  You can turn it back on when you've gone through a spell of no sun.  I remember when they were discussing not allowing people to go without being on the grid.  What is the point of having solar, if you can't use it without paying the energy companies.

That's not really feasible.

Solar doesn't work when the sun is not up. So if they turn it off, they would have to turn it back on when the sun goes down. Unless, you have large battery storage, but that is quite expensive (initial cost) and those batteries need to be replaced every now and then costing you quite a bit more too. That's why I have solar on my roof, but don't store it in batteries.

On another note... if you store it in batteries, there wouldn't be hardly anything to sell back to the power companies either.

My solar is hooked up to the grid. When the sun is up, I produce much more than is required to run my home, therefore the power company buys it back and then sells it to others who don't have solar. Then, when the sun goes down... I don't generate any so then, the power company sells me their electricity during the times I cannot generate my own.

If you get enough people to use solar, it drastically reduced the amount of electricity required to produce during the daytime. 

FWIW

Everything they promote costs money. They spend as much as they can.

So they make money selling your excess solar. Then why does it cost them too much?

Showtalk said...

So they make money selling your excess solar. Then why does it cost them too much?

I don't think you fully understand.

For them to produce the electricity at a power plant 120 kilometers away... and pump it through all the high voltage lines (loosing volts over the distance)... I have no idea exactly what it might cost them, but let's say it would cost then anywhere from $2 ~ $10 per kilowatt to generate and pump it to my area.

Now I... already in the area, am already generating much more than I can use, they just turn what I don't use back out onto the powerlines to sell to others... even at the same price I'm getting paid for 33 cents per kilowatt (i.e. they make $0 off of purchase and sales price); if I didn't generate that, it would have cost them $2 ~ $10 to pump it over the 120 kilometers. 

Thus others around get to use the unused electricity I generated and they don't need to pump what I make from their power plant either. That reduces the amount of electricity they need to produce too. That reduces their cost as well.

They have an IoT device on my meter so they can instantly see how much of unused power I and hundreds or thousands of others are generating and thus reduce their production amounts accordingly. It's a win-win for everybody.

So it only costs them if they have to send high voltage through long distances. As I'm local, several of my neighbors can use what I generate reducing the power company's need to pump it over the long distances. Except when the sun goes down... then they beef up their production to meet demand.

FWIW