Quote:
Originally Posted by Two Bills
Plenty of space around TV and area for Solar energy. Our farmers earn a fortune from energy companies leasing/selling them land
As an example.
Our local village shop here in UK is powered by solar energy. It is roofed with solar tiles, and powers lighting, fridges, freezers etc.
Excess power generated is sold to and diverted into the National Grid.
In evening when no solar energy, shop buys back power from grid at national rate.
No batteries needed or involved.
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What you describe saves money for the homeowner and possibly makes money if electricity can be sold back. Without batteries, it is only effective during sunny days but we do have a lot of those here. Perhaps the installation can be paid off in four years but that means no savings to the homeowner for those four years since the money is going back into the initial construction.
Is there really enough land around the Villages? Since I don't feel like looking it up, let's assume the 1,000 acres is correct. With a density of about five homes per acre here, that would require giving up an area that would otherwise be used to construct 5,000 new homes or about two year's worth of construction. If the developer gets even 10% of the price of the new home as profit then at $400K per home that would come out to about $200M in lost profit. Is it realistic to believe the developer would forego $200M worth of profit from new homes to build a solar farm to supply existing homes?
Will the electric company purchase excess power? There was a bill defeated last year that would have stripped much of the profitability of selling rooftop solar electric back to the company. Is it likely that the electric company would not fight tooth and nail to save themselves from having to purchase solar from a 1,000 acre farm? They would already be taking a loss of income from 80,000 homes so they certainly would not be interested in paying money back to those homes. If excess electric cannot be sold back to the company then it will take more than four years to pay back the initial investment.
Could it be done? Sure, nearly anything can be done. Is it feasible? I don't see a lot of companies currently attempting it which might be an indication that it is not.