vitamin_j

Game Changer in Solar Energy: PG&E Inks Deal

I hate to use the C word among this august group of commentators, but does anyone here see this announcement, as Cramer surely would (from his recent talking seizure caught on video), as an indication that only utility-scale projects will realize the cost efficiencies necessary to make solar economically sensible? That such projects will keep the residential/small commercial market a boutique business?

I hate to bring Cramer into this - he is an obnoxious and damaging noisemaker. However, it is true that residential installation is a tough tough business. As an Akeena shareholder (please, castigate me), I watch any potential profits they make devoured by the ballooning costs of selling and marketing. Where one customer, a utility, buys enough capacity to power 240,000 homes, if you're going by the residential model, you'd have to make 240,000 separate sales to accomplish the same thing. That's partially a simplification, but it does make me wonder.