5 ms·

It's kind of telling/ironic that the author gripes (whether rightfully or wrongly) about PG&E wanting more return on investment due to their risk of doing busin

It's kind of telling/ironic that the author gripes (whether rightfully or wrongly) about PG&E wanting more return on investment due to their risk of doing business in California, but when the author decides to build their own power system to not deal with PG&E, literally almost every paragraph related to their planning/setup contains a mention of some different California/city regulation that the author had to meet or else it's illegal for them to build their own power system. To the point where they had to pay a professional to help them meet all the regulations.

vasusen 1y ago
This is the key issue. We are over-regulated. We rebuilt our house in the SF Bay Area in 2022 and went fully electric, no gas line anymore. It was really sad that I couldn't resuse any of my previous 12 kwh solar panels that were fully functioning and had another 10-15 years on them as they wouldn't match the new regulations. I tried to get them installed on a separate area in my own backyard for off-the-grid charger just for my car, but you are not allowed to have a big off-the-grid system unconnected to PG&E. No electrician was willing to help with risk of losing license. The author was lucky that his dad could help with electrical. Due to similar issues, I couldn't find anyone to take them for free as well. Demo dad was a truly sad day to watch these perfectly functioning solar panels being destroyed by a crane.
- bityard 1y ago
  Wow, not being able to have an off-grid system AT ALL without the utility's approval just sounds bonkers to me. I guess PG&E is even more evil than I thought. Used solar panels are a pretty brisk business right now. Lots of places are replacing their 10-15 year-old panels with new ones just due to the better efficiency and capacity alone. And now that we have over a decade of large-scale solar experience to draw from, we are finding that they tend to degrade a lot slower than expected and that the original 30-year lifespan was highly conservative. I'm surprised you couldn't find someone from out of state to buy them.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
vondur 1y ago
I was reading something the other day about an interesting dichotomy in California. It’s one of the most heavily regulated states, yet also one of the most lawless at the same time.

vasusen 1y ago

This is the key issue. We are over-regulated. We rebuilt our house in the SF Bay Area in 2022 and went fully electric, no gas line anymore. It was really sad that I couldn't resuse any of my previous 12 kwh solar panels that were fully functioning and had another 10-15 years on them as they wouldn't match the new regulations. I tried to get them installed on a separate area in my own backyard for off-the-grid charger just for my car, but you are not allowed to have a big off-the-grid system unconnected to PG&E. No electrician was willing to help with risk of losing license. The author was lucky that his dad could help with electrical. Due to similar issues, I couldn't find anyone to take them for free as well. Demo dad was a truly sad day to watch these perfectly functioning solar panels being destroyed by a crane.

bityard 1y ago
Wow, not being able to have an off-grid system AT ALL without the utility's approval just sounds bonkers to me. I guess PG&E is even more evil than I thought. Used solar panels are a pretty brisk business right now. Lots of places are replacing their 10-15 year-old panels with new ones just due to the better efficiency and capacity alone. And now that we have over a decade of large-scale solar experience to draw from, we are finding that they tend to degrade a lot slower than expected and that the original 30-year lifespan was highly conservative. I'm surprised you couldn't find someone from out of state to buy them.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

vondur 1y ago

I was reading something the other day about an interesting dichotomy in California. It’s one of the most heavily regulated states, yet also one of the most lawless at the same time.