[aerohead]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Its not a lie at all. It's the truth.
Solar costs about half that of coal, for every watt of capacity you build. But you only get 4 or 5 hours of production per day.
You can stretch that to 6 or 7 hours with trackers but that will double the price of the project, and then some.

Then say you install 1,000 was worth of panels you probably only ever see 900 watts of production.
Because the industry standard test that "tests the panels" only translates to 80% to 90% of what you actually get once the panels out side in the environment and are hot from being in the sun for a few hours. Especially some where hot like texas, NM, AZ, SoCal.

Thermal solar storage is only cost effective for heating.
Even small Rankine cycle setups are really expensive, they make batteries look cheap.
Then even tiny Rankine systems that are only rated for a few Hp require additional permits, licensing in most states.

Once installed and amortized out,we're looking at free fuel for the life of the system,and of course there's virtually zero carbon footprint.They're not perfect,but perfection isn't something we should have expectations for.