My solar PV thread

[oil pan 4]

Well PNM is raising rates. Solar was probably a good call.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

Let's see...

Such things are over priced here, north of the border.

Then add on that we get about the same amount of sunlight at the Washington guys...

And the final nail in the coffin? our electricity (simply called "Hydro" as it's always called in our province) is pretty cheap at 10c (canadian) per KWH...

Such a system would never pay for itself. Saddens me.

Can't even make an excuse that I'd be saving the planet, since we don't have any fossil-burning power plants as far as I know.

I think BC sells it's surplus electricity to Washington and to Alberta. So installing solar would be a net positive.

I think you are right about the payback being poor ...

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Well PNM is raising rates. Solar was probably a good call.

Utility companies everywhere only raise rates. They never go down.

As the infrastructure (power distribution) needs upgrading, they raise the rates for their capital costs.

In Saskatchewan, most of our transformers and transmission lines were installed in the 1950's and 1960's. The transformers had between 30 and 50 years design lifetimes. The utility - SaskPower - is upgrading as fast as their budget allows, but they are falling further behind ... not catching up. We're running on borrowed time.

We are paying about $0.14 per kwh flat rate now. I expect that to rise into the $0.20 range in the next 5 years. I don't expect time-of-day rates for at least 10 years. This utility is not progressive.

They also have a bunch of hardware that needs to be upgraded to deal with intermittent renewables coming onto the grid.

I have to stop talking, and put my money where my mouth is

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by thingstodo

Utility companies everywhere only raise rates. They never go down.

As the infrastructure (power distribution) needs upgrading, they raise the rates for their capital costs.

In Saskatchewan, most of our transformers and transmission lines were installed in the 1950's and 1960's. The transformers had between 30 and 50 years design lifetimes. The utility - SaskPower - is upgrading as fast as their budget allows, but they are falling further behind ... not catching up. We're running on borrowed time.

We are paying about $0.14 per kwh flat rate now. I expect that to rise into the $0.20 range in the next 5 years. I don't expect time-of-day rates for at least 10 years. This utility is not progressive.

They also have a bunch of hardware that needs to be upgraded to deal with intermittent renewables coming onto the grid.

I have to stop talking, and put my money where my mouth is

The cost to deliver power per capita increases as population density decreases. I'd expect a lot of infrastructure per capita is required in Saskatchewan.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The cost to deliver power per capita increases as population density decreases. I'd expect a lot of infrastructure per capita is required in Saskatchewan.

Yup. There is a lot of infra-structure, and few paying customers.

[oil pan 4]

With the drastic proposed rate increase of 14.4% I take that as renewables such as wind and solar are not cheaper than what they have been using.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

With the drastic proposed rate increase of 14.4% I take that as renewables such as wind and solar are not cheaper than what they have been using.

My apologies for the length of the reply. Verbal diahreah is my default

SaskPower tried out the egg-beater style wind turbines years ago. And they did not handle gusts very well. None of the test units survived the 1 year test. All ended in catastrophic failure.

There are a couple of small solar pilots in progress. There are at least 2 'standard' on-shore wind pilots in the south west of the province, where it is usually windy.

I don't have inside info - my guess is that they are a bit gun-shy after their previous disastrous wind pilot. Solar can reduce the need for peaker plants (most of ours are natural gas turbines) in the summer. The low angle of the sun in winter does not give great power production .. se we need to make the installations bigger. Our baseload is coal and has been for 50+ years.

Our last new coal plant was commissioned in 1990. Since then there have been life extension projects for the existing coal plants. The last coal plant that was de-commissioned was in the mid 90's. There have been about a dozen new natural gas turbines (+15% or so) and one larger natural gas power station (+10%) built since the 90's. There are a few small hydro units in the far north of the province, but not a large percentage of our power use.

There are lobby groups working to get renewables in the mix, at the political level and at the educational level (for power company executives)

[oil pan 4]

Today I found out that because I have solar I am no long required to pay into the coop renewable energy fund, not only that but when you get solar the coop credits your account with all the money you ever paid in into the renewable energy fund.
So I won't have a power bill to pay till probably winter.
Means more money to invest in copper, brass and lead.

[jimhs]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Today I found out that because I have solar I am no long required to pay into the coop renewable energy fund, not only that but when you get solar the coop credits your account with all the money you ever paid in into the renewable energy fund.
So I won't have a power bill to pay till probably winter.
Means more money to invest in copper, brass and lead.

Hi oil pan
Why are you investing in these metals?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by jimhs

Hi oil pan
Why are you investing in these metals?

They are considered liberty metals in the US and hold historic cultural value.