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  • First Solar Earnings: Eight Points About the Solar Industry [View article]
    NE Florida utilities don't generally have a base rate of $0.15/kWh and you 30 year "LEC" is way off unless you are dealing with a 4 kW system that has ALL rebates and tax benefits rolling in. Use of a 20 year model is much more valuable to the average home owner--very few people stay in a home more than 10 years let alone 30...toooooo many unreliable assumptions need to be made to model the cost of electricity over 2 decades out.
    The author of the article makes some good points but is all over the map.


    On Nov 01 09:51 AM Solar Guy wrote:

    > Troy,
    >
    > You make some excellent points, except your LEC math is inaccurate
    > on point number 4.
    >
    > As a complimentary service, we provide all our customers a 30-year
    > system life analysis to determine their IRR, Net Present Value, and
    > Payback Period on their solar systems. Almost all of the solar panel
    > manufacturers now offer a 25-year warranty and the panels will actually
    > perform for 30+ years. So the LEC analysis should be based on 30
    > years lifetime, not 20 years as you stated.
    >
    > Reference your final comment - "Solar's LEC must come down to the
    > level of other, traditional energy generation sources for it to truly
    > gain critical mass and the accelerated investment and deployment
    > that comes with it." On every analysis I've provided to our customers
    > here in Northwest Florida, the fixed solar rate equivalent cost for
    > 30 years has been in the $0.03 - $0.08 / kWh range based on the size
    > of the system versus the local utility provider's grid-based rate
    > of $0.15 / kWh. In reality, we're already at or below "grid parity".
    >
    >
    > Even if you take away the current subsidies and tax credits for the
    > unsubsidized, TRUE cost of energy from all energy sources (solar
    > versus coal, natural gas, and nuclear) in the US, decentralized electricity
    > generation from solar panels on a rooftop with no associated grid
    > transmission costs or non-competing, utility company monopoly dependence
    > is still much less expensive for the next 30 years.
    Nov 01 10:22 am |Rating: +2 0
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