Quote:
Originally Posted by wifi
Not to throw a damper, but bring some reality is a few facts, which I suspect will be instantly argued with, but none the less.
I will make the logical assumption that this will not include batteries, so this is a solar "assistance" to power generation during sunny daytime, otherwise we would need to include the cost of batteries. We can argue this later, if one wants to, but batteries have a low lifetime relative to the solar cells...
Solar cells have a lifetime of 20-30 years, estimates, because few of the modern day cells have been around that long. So, lets take the expanded guess of 30 years, that means every 30 years all the $5M cells will need to be replaced. Anyone want to guess the economy here ? It is great if the government will pay for it (cheers from the liberals today), but lets think of what this really means, feel good ?
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You are right on the mark wifi. It's my hope that sometime in my lifetime there is a break through in battery tech that allows enough power generated by solar during sunny times to be stored to make it through no or low power times. But there is nothing on the horizon yet.
The life of the cells is looking much better than originally better thought but this technology is no where near ready to replace fossil fuels. Here in Massachusetts we've had politicians who have decided to shut down coal in the state, with the last massive coal plant slated to shut down soon. The problem is that there is no alternative large enough to replace the lost power. Solar does not make up the difference, in fact it is not even close. Natural gas has taken up some of the slack, but again, here in Mass, there is not enough pipeline capacity to run these plants during peak winter months so they must be shut down during cold snaps so that there is enough natural gas for heating customers.
I'm actually considering installing a large propane generator in my Mass home as it appears California style brown outs / black outs may be come a reality in New England due to the decreased generation capacity from fairly new environmental rules.
Solar is also not viable without the tax credits and carbon credits. Large alternative energy stake holders have said they will divest if credits disappear because the tech is not economically viable with out them.
I like the idea, but it is nowhere near ready to take over for traditional generation methods.