Photovoltaics proved so successful in Hawaii that the local utility, HECO, has instituted policies

[Bennyboy]

to block further expansion.

William Walker and his wife, Mi Chong, wanted to join what's seen as a solar revolution in Hawaii. Shortly after buying their Oahu home earlier this year, they plunked down $35,000 for a rooftop photovoltaic system.

The couple looked forward to joining neighbors who had added panels, to cutting their $250 monthly power bills and to knowing they were helping the environment.

Their plans shifted the day after the PV panels went up in early October. The Walkers learned from a neighbor about a major change in the local utility's solar policy. It led to those 18 panels sitting dormant nearly three months later.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-boom-so-successfull-its-been-halted

[hobbit709]

1. I would install the panels and get off the grid.

HECO can take a flying leap.

[Bennyboy]

3. Batteries are pretty spendy....

the power's gotta go somewhere....

[hobbit709]

4. Not as much as $250/mo forever.

[pediatricmedic]

6. That's the problem

Battery solutions are rather expensive if you want to go off grid and solar isn't 24/7.

I am not even sure we are doing anything positive for the environment when power plants have to maintain full standby power for when the sun sets or the wind dies.

The green energy industry really needs a breakthrough in storage at this point.

[Bennyboy]

2. Now the Kochs Are Coming After Your Solar Panels

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December 18, 2013 |



Now the Koch brothers are coming after my solar panels.

I had solar panels installed on the roof of our Washington, D.C. home this year. My household took advantage of a generous tax incentive from the District government and a creative leasing deal offered by the solar panel seller.

Our electric bills fell by at least a third. When people make this choice, the regional electric company grows less pressured to spend money to expand generating capacity and the installation business creates good local jobs. Customers who use solar energy also reduce carbon emissions.

What’s not to love?

According to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative network better known as ALEC, our solar panels make us “free riders.” What?

Yes, according to ALEC, an organization that specializes in getting the right-wing agenda written into state laws, people like me who invest in energy-efficiency and shrinking our carbon footprints ought to be penalized.



http://admin.alternet.org/environment/now-kochs-are-coming-after-your-solar-panels

[grahamhgreen]

5. Right, now the power generators, instead of being job creators, are free riders (wretch).

[booley]

8. and so anarchy capitalists betray how they really feel

if they followed their own rhetoric they would love solar panels. It makes people more independent.

But it was always about helping the rich.

[djean111]

7. Well, profits are threatened, ya know.

Comments after the article are interesting - for many people, it seems, the ONLY reason to install solar is reached with a calculator - they leave out that this is better than using oil or nukes (and paying for steadily increasing oil prices and horrendously escalating nuke prices), that homeowners will achieve some measure of independence or freedom from being at the mercy of the utility company, and then there is that small item of solar being better for the earth.

Hopefully, this sort of thing will spur the development of better battery storage, and perhaps neighborhood grids. If you have ever experienced a long time without electricity because something at the main plant - not totally depending on the main plant sure is an attraction.

Oh, hey and - big plus - TERRORISTS!!!!! Instead of nuclear and other plants possibly being targeted, and all those folks who live near them - solar makes a much smaller target.

As far as people who have invested in nuclear and gas and coal and oil plants - this is why there is such a thing as diversification and doing some forward thinking on investments. At least on the part of fund managers. The current Draconian measure against solar makes me think the 1% had been assured that squashing renewable energy was in the bag, and that people would be baaing for more nuke plants, gosh, cute little ones, big subsidy-gobbling ones, big rate-raising ones. So just trying to make solar less attractive and affordable is plan B.

[BlueToTheBone]

9. What's another few thousand for the batteries

then they are free forever. They might need a little house for the battery bank, but they could then recoup their investment.

[seveneyes]

10. Flywheels

Put them underground and use the excess energy to spin them up. Make them large enough to handle all the input and output needs. Less maintenance than chemical batteries in the long run.

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. K&R This is becoming more common every day.

These leeches are not going to give up their free ride easily.