Perhaps your remarks were intended for an effect of some sort ...
...There are additional benefits that accrue to the society at large and its tax payers:
• Grid security enhancement, 2‐3 ¢/kWh: because solar generation can be synergistic with peak demand in much of the US, the injection of solar energy near point of use can deliver effective capacity, and therefore reduce the risk of the power outages and rolling blackouts that are caused by high demand and resulting stresses on the transmission and distribution systems. The capacity value of PV accrues to the ratepayer as mentioned above. However, when the grid goes down, the resulting goods and business losses are not the utility’s responsibility: society pays the price, via losses of goods and business, compounded impacts on the economy and taxes, insurance premiums, etc. The total cost of all power outages from all causes to the US economy has been estimated at $100 billion per year (Gellings & Yeager, 2004). Making the conservative assumption that a small fraction of these outages, say 5‐10%, are the of the high‐demand stress type that can be effectively mitigated by dispersed solar generation at a capacity penetration of 20%, it is straightforward to calculate that the value of each kWh generated by such a dispersed solar base would be worth around 3 cents per kWh to the New York tax payer (see appendix).
• Environment/health, 3‐6 ¢/kWh: It is well established that the environmental footprint of solar generation (PV and CSP) is considerably smaller than that of the fossil fuel technologies generating most of our electricity (e.g., Fthenakis et al., 2008), displacing pollution associated with drilling/mining, and emissions. Utilities have to account for this environmental impact to some degree today, but this is still only largely a potential cost to them. Rate‐based Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) markets that exist in some states as a means to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are a preliminary embodiment of including external costs, but they are largely driven more by politically‐negotiated processes than by a reflection of inherent physical realities. The intrinsic physical value of displacing pollution is very real however: each solar kWh displaces an otherwise dirty kWh and commensurately mitigates several of the following factors: greenhouse gases, Sox/Nox emissions, mining degradations, ground water contamination, toxic releases and wastes, etc., which are all present or postponed costs to society. Several exhaustive studies emanating from such diverse sources as the nuclear industry or the medical community (Devezeaux, 2000, Epstein, 2011) estimate the environmental/health cost of 1 kWh generated by coal at 9‐25 cents, while a natural gas kWh has an environmental cost of 3‐6 cents per kWh. Given New York’s generation mix (15% coal, 29% natural gas), and ignoring the environmental costs associated with nuclear and hydropower, the environmental cost of a New York kWh is thus 2 to 6 cents per kWh. It is important to note however that the New York grid does not operate in a vacuum but operates within – and is sustained by ‐‐ a larger grid whose coal footprint is considerably larger (more than 45% coal in the US) with a corresponding cost of 5‐12 cents per kWh. In the appendix, we show that pricing one single factor – the greenhouse gas CO2 – delivers at a minimum 2 cents per solar generated PV kWh in New York and that an argument could be made to claim a much higher number. Therefore taking a range of 3‐6 cents per kWh to characterize the
environmental value of each PV generated KWh is certainly a conservative range.
• Long Term Societal Value, 3‐4 ¢/kWh: Beyond the commodity futures’ 5‐year fuel price mitigation hedge horizon of relevance to a utility company and worth 3‐5 ¢/kWh (see above), a similar approach can be used to quantifying the long term finite fuel hedge value of solar generation, from a societal (i.e., taxpayer’s) viewpoint in light of the physical realities underscored in figure 1. Prudently, and many would argue conservatively, assuming that long‐term, finite, fuel‐based generation costs will escalate to 150% in real terms by 2036, the 30‐year insurance hedge of solar generation gauged against a low risk yearly discount rate equal the T‐bill yield curve amounts to 4‐7 cents per kWh (see appendix). Further, arguing the use of a lower “societal” discount rate (Tol et al., 2006) would place the hedge value of solar generation at 7‐12 cents per kWh (see appendix). Taking a middle ground of 6‐9 cents per kWh, the long term societal value of solar generation can thus be estimated at 3‐4 cents per kWh (i.e., the difference between the
societal hedge and short‐term utility hedge already counted above).
• Economic growth, 3+ ¢/kWh: The German and Ontario experiences, where fast PV growth is occurring, show that solar energy sustains more jobs per kWh than conventional energy (Louw et al., 2010, Ban‐Weiss et al., 2010, and see appendix). Job creation implies value to society in many ways, including increased tax revenues, reduced unemployment, and an increase in general confidence conducive to business development. Counting only tax revenue enhancement provides a tangible low estimate of solar energy’s multifaceted economic growth value. In New York this low estimate amounts to nearly 3 cents per kWh, even under the extremely conservative, but thus far realistic, assumption that 80% of the manufacturing jobs would be either out‐of‐state or foreign (see appendix). The total economic growth value induced by solar deployment is not quantified as part of this article as it would depend on economic model choices and assumptions beyond the present scope. It is evident however, that the total value would be higher than the tax revenues enhancement component presently quantified.
It is an easy-reading, interesting, slightly different look at solar.
It is worth downloading and looking over.
http://www.asrc.cestm.albany.edu/perez/2011/solval.pdf
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