Quote:
Originally Posted by villagetinker
I think people are also starting to realize that the economics do not support solar in many states, I worked in the electric utility industry and had planned on putting solar on our house until I looked at the economics. I would be more inclined to buy into a group or neighborhood GROUND BASED solar field.
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I looked extensively into signing a contract committing us to one of those. The commitment did not involve any up front investment, but instead required a long term commitment to buy power from the solar farm. The cost of the power we would have committed to was about 105% of the current rate, but was locked into for the term of the contract (20 years). The benefits would be locking in a long term power cost (inflation protection) and arguably helping the environment. Unfortunately, we aren’t planning to own our northern home for anywhere near the term of the contractual commitment. If we wanted to sell our home and get out of the contract, it would be our responsibility to find someone in the area to assume our contract, and that party would have to be approved by the operator of the solar farm (pass their credit check criteria). If we couldn’t find an approved party to assume our contract, we would have been on the hook for the cost of the power after selling the home. In my opinion, that was too much risk, and potentially hassle, to take on for the benefit of inflation protection.