Thousands of acres of crop land getting turned into solar farms across the Midwest

[Marble]

As far as maintenance goes, I currently have two damaged panels from golf balls. These two panels are running at ~75% of the others.

Other than cleaning them, I haven't had any costs. Cleaning is just soap and water. They have a 25-year warranty.

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[Marble]

I’ve heard utilities won’t buy back all extra power you generate and the buy back rates can change (often for the worse).

True to an extant.

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[Trackerbacker]

For me, I spent 33k on a system and ended up paying about 23k after rebates. That was in 2017. My annual electric bills were about $8500. I'm not sure what it is per kwh now, but it is more. So without subsidies, I would break even in 4 years, with subsidies, it was 3. So now I'm 3 years positive, saving at least $8500 annually on electricity. In the 6 full years of owning it, I paid $1000 the first year in a "true-up" and $450 this year.

standalone pv setup?

It seems I'm close to doubling my money in 6 years. Which is better than the S&P 500. And I am a dedicated investor.

I can say my situation is not typical of most on here. I have a large house, and I live in California, where electricity typically costs 43% more than the rest of the nation.

I am a fan of solar on commercial buildings and residences. I'm not a huge fan of taking up large amounts of real estate by utilities for solar energy creation.

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I tend to agree, utilities shouldn't own land, in my mind, and what is present for infrastructure, should be utilized to the max

 

[Crashdoyle]

The real problem is that the US will be charging batterys with the solar to send to China, lots and lots of batterys.....huge batterys!....bet you didn't know that!....yup we will be producing energy for China.....they use the batterys and send them Back and forth on a freighter that uses 1 gallon of diesel per inch......sounds like fossil fuels are going to be in heavy use for a long while....how do you suppose that came to be?....better ask "The Big Guy"

 

[Marble]

standalone pv setup?


I tend to agree, utilities shouldn't own land, in my mind, and what is present for infrastructure, should be utilized to the max

No batteries and the panels are 250 watts each. At the time, they were the best we could get. Last I checked, I think they make 300 watt panels now. It's about a 14kw system and is probably a little more than I needed. But I am glad I oversized because the rate increase over the years has eaten away at the true up each year. They made the time of day where solar systems make a lot of power, one of the lowest rates for reimbursement compared to later in the day.

I need to do a few more things like replace all my lighting with LEDs and fix a few windows that have lost there seal.

PGE really has done a lot over the last several years to manipulate peak times and charges associated with them. Also changing the NEM tiers so they have to pay less to people who make excess energy. They also have changed peak times have shifted in a way that penalizes people with solar systems. I fully believe the politicians here in CA are in bed with them and favor helping PGE with staying in business. I don't want to turn this into a political thread. But it is total BS. Not only my opinion but the opinion of a lot of people in the industry. CA claims it is unequitable for people who have the ability to buy solar to get such a large break on electricity costs and people with less money can't afford it.

I am in the industry that can supply materials for stuff like this but it is more of a one off type of sale for us.

 

[twofer]

Wind farms consume lots of wilderness space for relatively little energy output. And those spinning blades chop up birds and other flying wildlife. A such, they re not a good solution to our energy problems.

 

[11boo]

As far as maintenance goes, I currently have two damaged panels from golf balls. These two panels are running at ~75% of the others.

Other than cleaning them, I haven't had any costs. Cleaning is just soap and water. They have a 25-year warranty.

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You seem to be knowledgeable on PV. How much PV is coming in from China?

 

[Trackerbacker]

No batteries and the panels are 250 watts each. At the time, they were the best we could get. Last I checked, I think they make 300 watt panels now. It's about a 14kw system and is probably a little more than I needed. But I am glad I oversized because the rate increase over the years has eaten away at the true up each year. They made the time of day where solar systems make a lot of power, one of the lowest rates for reimbursement compared to later in the day.

I need to do a few more things like replace all my lighting with LEDs and fix a few windows that have lost there seal.

PGE really has done a lot over the last several years to manipulate peak times and charges associated with them. Also changing the NEM tiers so they have to pay less to people who make excess energy. They also have changed peak times have shifted in a way that penalizes people with solar systems. I fully believe the politicians here in CA are in bed with them and favor helping PGE with staying in business. I don't want to turn this into a political thread. But it is total BS. Not only my opinion but the opinion of a lot of people in the industry. CA claims it is unequitable for people who have the ability to buy solar to get such a large break on electricity costs and people with less money can't afford it.

I am in the industry that can supply materials for stuff like this but it is more of a one off type of sale for us.

Random q

How big of a capacitor can you get your hands on?

 

[CorbLand]

As far as maintenance goes, I currently have two damaged panels from golf balls. These two panels are running at ~75% of the others.

Other than cleaning them, I haven't had any costs. Cleaning is just soap and water. They have a 25-year warranty.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

There were quite a few panels that got crushed in a hail storm we had up this way a couple years back. We also have to contend with snow here and for the most part, the panels are covered and not doing anything for 4 months of the year.

 

[bpa556]

Let’s build some reactors already instead of throwing wind or solar everywhere… that is where the real energy is

Absolutely correct


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[KurtR]

The 3200 acre one they were trying to get here didnt even get to the permitting process residents got on the county commission hard