Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Hello,
We know about wind turbines and solar photovoltaic and solar heat, right? And going beyond biomass, what other sources are there?
|
Make of this what you will.
My public utility district gets about 80% from hydroelectric, and sells it at 6 1/2 cents per KWH. They are required to purchase some minimum percentage of renewable power, and by the statute, "renewable" doesn't include hydroelectric.
To comply with the law, they subsidise home PV in a big way. My grid-connected system, besides being net-metered, has a production meter on the inverter, and I get an annual check for 54 cents for every KWH it produces, on a contract running through June 30, 2020. This amount is because the PV panels and the inverter are made in-state. As you see, the payback is almost all in the subsidy.
Even with this deal, the economics of the system for the user (me) are marginal. I might have done better buying a CD.