Solar PV Energy Payback Discussion
I posted an entry below about the shortest day of the year. In the comments, a reader John Pickens responded with comments about the belief that my system will never produce enough energy to repay the energy used to create the components (panels, etc). I believe that he is incorrect.
UPDATED 12/29/2004 4:47pm EST
Below is the discussion (click the link to continue reading):
Shortest Day of the Year
Well, yesterday was the shortest day of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere.
I haven’t seen the numbers from yesterday’s production, but we’ve been getting 9-12 kWh out of the solar panels on a sunny day in December. Compare that to the record of 42 kWh on a sunny day in June, and you can see what a difference the lower angle of sunshine and shorter days has on the system.
Of course, we aren’t using the air conditioning at the moment either, so our usage is down. We are using lights for longer hours in the evening and even morning now.
So now we turn back to longer days. Our “net producer” months are predicted to be April, May and a bit of June.
Here Come the Fuzz
Yesterday afternoon, I had a DirecTV installer working at my house on cable issues. He was parked out front. About mid-afternoon, a police car starts cruising around the neighborhood. The car came to a stop right next to my installer, and the officer inside started talking to my installer. I saw all of this from the window.
So, I high-tailed it outside to see what was up. When I got within ear-shot, my installer said, “Here’s the guy you need to talk to.” (Gulp.)
So the officer says, “Are those solar panels on your roof?”
(Whew!)
I proceeded to explain a bit about them and their costs. It turns out that the officer lives a few blocks from me, has been considering panels, and recently noticed mine. He had questions about costs and who installed it. I gave him the name of my solar installer and the address for this website.
So, for Officer Jones (his real name – might be Corporal or Sergeant, I wasn’t paying attention), here are your links.
The panels were installed by Jersey Solar, LLC (website). The total cost was $52,000 but the state rebate pays about 70%, so my cost was about $16,000. Click the Major Event Entries link to the left for an index to articles and pictures of the whole process. If you need anything else, please feel free to e-mail me at the link on the left.
Renewable Energy Feasibility – NJ
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioned a study to determine whether or not it would be feasible to require that 20% of NJ’s energy needs be met by renewables by 2020. They received the results last week. (Press Release)
The study results show that increasing the requirement to 20% by 2020 would only result in a 3.7% increase in electric rates – which is negigible over the 16 year period. It’s important to note that this scenario assumes significant cost-reducing technology changes for wind and PV (solar) production. The report leans heavily on wind-generated power including off-shore wind installations in it’s estimates.
Interestingly, the report promises 11,700 jobs related solely to the production and installation of solar and wind technology in NJ. The report also points to reduction in natural gas prices as a result as demand for natural gas in utility production of electricity declines. And of course there are the health benefits of reducing polluting methods of producing electricity.
I have to admit – I’m a little skeptical of the results. For one thing, they base their estimates on the best case scenario – that we would have significant cost reduction for wind and PV power in the 20 years. However, I’m strongly in favor of anything that makes NJ cleaner and less dependent on fossil fuels.
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