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more importantly, why is it in any economic to install solar cells on a home instead of at scale on a solar farm?

_ph_ 6y ago
For two basic reasons: - the home owner owns the roof top and it is already there and unused, for a solar farm, the energy company needs to find and acquire land. - the home owner uses most of the produced electricity at cost rate, a grid company has a lot of additional costs a home owner does not have, like operating a grid, ensuring service 24x7.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  land is cheap. especially in the desert where there's lot of sun, and not much else.
  - _ph_ 6y ago
    "Not much else", like no customers for the electricity produced? /s. Yes, there are regions for example in the US, where putting up solar cells would be very cheap. But then you have to run power lines to where your customers are. That can be 1000 kilometers or more. Doable, but that certainly affects the economy of things. And yes, I think the US should put large solar farms into its deserts. And of course, there are countries, where land is not cheap and there might not even be deserts. Here in Germany for example, basically all land is somehow used.
feifan 6y ago
Same reason you have heating units in your house/building rather than at a municipal heating plant … people want to buy self-sufficiency for their house/building, and it's easier than scoping/building large-scale projects and running wires and dealing with municipalities.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  self-sufficiency has a cost, hence my "economic" question. Also, steam transmission is way less efficient than electricity transmission.
  - feifan 6y ago
    It does appear people are willing to pay those costs :) Also, electricity transmission appears to be much more expensive than generation. On my PG&E bills in California, delivery costs 2.5x as much per kWh as generation for 100% renewable power.
yaacov 6y ago
One benefit of rooftop solar is reduced transmission losses, but that isn’t usually enough to offset the costs from small scale/custom installation work. People like having them on their own rooftops for self-reliance, to flex on their neighbors, and to feel like part of the solution to climate change.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  those aren't strictly "economic" reasons.
discordance 6y ago
Economic for who? Solar farms charge us grid retail prices everyday. Here in Australia, my payback time on home installed solar ended up to be 3.5 years. Not a bad investment.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  for the economy as a whole. In the US, would anyone other than Prius drivers install solar panels if there were no tax credit?

_ph_ 6y ago

For two basic reasons: - the home owner owns the roof top and it is already there and unused, for a solar farm, the energy company needs to find and acquire land. - the home owner uses most of the produced electricity at cost rate, a grid company has a lot of additional costs a home owner does not have, like operating a grid, ensuring service 24x7.

jgalt212 6y ago
land is cheap. especially in the desert where there's lot of sun, and not much else.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  "Not much else", like no customers for the electricity produced? /s. Yes, there are regions for example in the US, where putting up solar cells would be very cheap. But then you have to run power lines to where your customers are. That can be 1000 kilometers or more. Doable, but that certainly affects the economy of things. And yes, I think the US should put large solar farms into its deserts. And of course, there are countries, where land is not cheap and there might not even be deserts. Here in Germany for example, basically all land is somehow used.

feifan 6y ago

Same reason you have heating units in your house/building rather than at a municipal heating plant … people want to buy self-sufficiency for their house/building, and it's easier than scoping/building large-scale projects and running wires and dealing with municipalities.

jgalt212 6y ago
self-sufficiency has a cost, hence my "economic" question. Also, steam transmission is way less efficient than electricity transmission.
- feifan 6y ago
  It does appear people are willing to pay those costs :) Also, electricity transmission appears to be much more expensive than generation. On my PG&E bills in California, delivery costs 2.5x as much per kWh as generation for 100% renewable power.

yaacov 6y ago

One benefit of rooftop solar is reduced transmission losses, but that isn’t usually enough to offset the costs from small scale/custom installation work. People like having them on their own rooftops for self-reliance, to flex on their neighbors, and to feel like part of the solution to climate change.

jgalt212 6y ago
those aren't strictly "economic" reasons.

discordance 6y ago

Economic for who? Solar farms charge us grid retail prices everyday. Here in Australia, my payback time on home installed solar ended up to be 3.5 years. Not a bad investment.

jgalt212 6y ago
for the economy as a whole. In the US, would anyone other than Prius drivers install solar panels if there were no tax credit?