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Old 01-30-2019, 08:58 PM   #4736 (permalink)
oil pan 4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard View Post
Anthony Watts is a shill.

When I switched to 100% renewable electricity - I saved about 4%. So, he is wrong on this, too.
That's what happens when the government does it.
I know you can spend your money better than our incompetent government can. Do you hire people who go 400% over budget and take twice as long as they said it would, just because you owe them a favor?
I know I'm going to save huge amounts of money when I put in my own solar panels.

Compairson between a solar system that you or I would build to what the government or utility would build isn't fair.
We own the place where the solar panels are going to go. The structure that the panels go on already exists and the site is already connected to the power grid. 95% of the AC electrical to tie it on the grid is already in place.
The power that you or I would generate likely wouldn't travel more than 1km.
Taxes on the system are negligible or fly under the radar in most places.

When the government does it they have to buy or lease the land. They have to build what the panels are going to sit on. They usually have to run power lines out to the site, which requires more land leasing and right of ways. Then once the power lines get to the solar site they need their own sub station. Then that power needs to be transmitted some distance to market so there are losses associated with that.
Then they have to hire people to actively maintain it.
Running the power out to the solar site and building the sub station can easily make up most of the budget for a solar build.
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Last edited by oil pan 4; 01-30-2019 at 09:05 PM..