One CEO thinks so
(Green Car Reports) Solar power for your home has been around a long time, but for many homeowners, it’s required subsidies, special financing arrangements, and still delivered long payback periods.
That’s changing fast, according to the CEO of a major Texas electric utility.
David Crane, who runs NRG Energy, says that in fully half the states of the union, electricity from residential solar panels will be cost-competitive with that delivered by local electric utilities by next year.
Crane was quoted two weeks ago in a blog post by Navigant Research, which focused on his company’s aggressive efforts to migrate to solar power for a growing portion of its portfolio.
That would be quite exciting if it could be competitive. Long time readers know that one of the things I’ve advocated for a long time is alternatives like solar and wind on a small scale, particularly for small buildings, like homes. There are multiple reasons, such as the ability to store captured energy in batteries within the domicile. I am not a fan of putting panels on homes which feed back into the grid. Quite frankly, I think it is a rip off, with the consumer getting hosed, and little in return. But, to have affordable panels feeding power into buildings, even without storage capacity, would be a boon, particularly if time of cost return is short, would be excellent.
Just to be clear, my support has nothing to do with “climate change”, but saving on natural resources and saving personal money. Eventually, things like this could a) reduce our reliance on coal and fossil fuels, and b) help out with reducing the load and issues around the power grid.
