Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilion Villager
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Few if any people are anti-solar. What they are, are anti-MANDATED solar, and by extension oppose tax dollars to subsidize what has been to date an enterprise that most likely could not exist without those tax dollars.
Nothing wrong with solar. It is a great back-up but an impossible (to date, anyway) primary source of energy to the average Joe. I know a guy, who with his wife run a small farm almost completely from solar, but he is far from the "average joe". Nothing he can't build or fix. No rooftop array for him: his array is placed on a frame built of treated 4 X 4 lumber in a small open field and must easily be 20' high by 30' wide. He bought all the components and put them together himself, including wiring the whole works into his electrical system. Storage for cloudy days and over nights include two batteries. But he is a realist: he still depends on the power grid for extended times when the sun isn't shining, and is under no illusions about the cost. I asked him how long it will take for the system to pay for itself and he said 10-15 years at least, and THAT is without extra maintenance costs that are bound to spring up. As said, it works for him, but unless you are a whiz with tools something of even half that magnitude won't work for other folks. Batteries wear out, the array suffers damage, wiring needs change and need to be replaced/extended, etc. He's looking at 15 years knowing he can do all the work himself. If he had to hire it done it would be financially an impossibility.