Dusty

As to the sell back of power, now the large scale production companies charge the end user with Lease on the grid attachment gear, Line Rental time fees when producing Back into the grid and other associated service charges to recover expenses for the lines and other associated gear the end user does not purchase.  Neighbors with S Cells are either tearing them out or using for other purposes as expense get stupid.  One is less than 12 years in service, they can no longer get 50% of design delivery out and are being told DO NOT place them in the trash, Licensed Special Waste disposal fees apply.  Installer LONG out of business here, seems is as bad as the flighty Roofers that show up after a hail storm only to vanish with no recompense as to shoddy materials or work.

15 years?!  Well, at least they were honest with you.  But, 15 years, and you were thinking about it?!  No thanks, that's a horrible payback.

LMAO !!! That was something I didn't even point out  . I don't car what has been said earlier, it's STUPID to install panels on a roof that has any age at all (residential) on it as far as re-roofing $$$ in the future  . From what I understand, the cost of a "panel" better be pretty cheap if it doesn't last more than several years .

here's a thought...

if 'they' want to go antiFF, aka Solar/wind...fine..

however NO FF backup !

Only 'green' energy sources allowed, 'they' cannot use, even in an emergency, ANY fossil fuel resources(oil, gas,etc).

so any bets on how long sunny California would be in the dark ??

I flew a Piper Aztec into Las Vegas several years ago.  As I flew past the Luxor (the large gold windowed pyramid shaped casino), the reflected heat was tremendous. I can understand how the heat from a solar panel would kill birds.

All the rich like Shameless and Joe  ( pensions from gov or big corp ) and thrifty too, have solar panels (with all the hillsides many are not on the roof). I have never had the cash to "invest" but with the kooks running the  asylum here demanding green energy it will pay off in the end. They will make us tax payers buy some pie in the sky for some "disadvantage" group as current electric price is a lot higher than average across the USA already. It would be possible to keep a freezer or 3 cold and pump water up the hill so it could run the "flusher" all night, and not be all the way back to the stone age. But until the next big new improvement in panels will never power the whole state even in the day time. Which just makes the gas fired back up even less efficient cause you don't heat the water for steam in a few minutes to fill in for a cloud blowing across the sun for a hour.  You need to keep the water hot so another government idea that suck ( brought to you by Dems cause they stole the vote here the last 30 years).

The project DMiller talked of is just a test run to find storage for solar power. With the ding bats in charge (Dems and left for those without good judgement of people) we don't start small ( it's only tax payers money). Hopefully something of value is learned from the project.

Many of the on roof solar systems here are approaching 20 years already. The only solar panels I hear of being replaced are because new put out more juice per square foot. So I would like a solar system but not on my house roof. Like Mikez use it for a shed, but nobody has ever told me if that is practical. But I keep asking. 

I forgot to say it be the law here a new house or remodel you got to put solar in. Thank you again government dictators. 

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I, too, looked into solar a couple years ago. My age was the deciding factor for me, too. Being in the mid 60's, I probably won't live long enough to see any savings.

The guy I talked to was very good. Even though he was selling solar, the first thing he stressed was the way I could save the most money was with energy conservation (replacing lights with LED's, replacing old appliances with newer, more efficient models, changing from AC units to heat pumps, etc.). He told me that after getting as energy efficient as we could reasonably live with, a solar system should be built to meet, or slightly exceed our needs. He stressed that selling electricity back to the supplier was not feasible on a small system. 

He, also, told me that solar technology is constantly evolving and getting more efficient. At that time, he said some of the solar technology, that was only a few years old, was now obsolete.

At that time, there were many "green energy" incentives available (tax breaks, rebates and some monetary grants).

It I was younger, I almost certainly would have been interested. 

Fellow up here put up a system that was 1/3 larger than his highest usage of the year with the thought of selling back energy to the power company.  In the winter he use to plow a trail out to the panels and kept the snow off of them, but now he doesn't bother doing that anymore.

Asked him about his system and he said he would have been farther ahead to had left his money in the stock markets and just paid the electric bill, the return was not there.

 Another family set up solar panels and did most of the work himself, setting posts and building the structures for the panels and factored in for solid mount as opposed to unites that tracked the sun and added that factor in by adding more panels. In the summer he has no electric bill from the power company but gets a few dollars back... winter time he pays the power company.  He is now in the 5th year and I haven't asked him how the solar panels efficiency is working out.

BIL has a Camp at his little farm, has a Bus cabin with a Solar Battery Charger for running a few LED lights and a radio.  Has LP Mantle type wall lamps, a NO electric, heat derived energy distribution fan for the Wood Heat Stove, has a Portable AC Unit sits in a doorway runs off a portable generator when weather is hot as nothing else able to power it.

Can supplement a home's kwh usage during a day, can even add a battery system to store for dark hours, but all is at a cost.  Average homeowner here cannot recover initial cost to install for nearly twenty years, service life of cells is twenty ESTIMATED, many fail at between five to fifteen where newer replacements will NOT mount to existing structure and will not connect with other older cells very adaptively.   Dimensions change, connector positions/types change, output voltages change, designed obsolescence.

Michigan ranks 47th of the 48 Continual USA States.

Why not put the Solar Panels where there is a lot of sunshine on little used land, and put the power on the Power Grid?  

The other issue beyond wildlife is Line Losses for transmitted power over distances.  High Voltage Generated electricity is beaten up on distances greater than a few hundred miles, line loses add up where at close to a thousand becomes relatively unstable for transformance to a working voltage, that at any from 33kv to 365kv.  Have been DC transmission lines that performed reasonably well but to combat Line Loss were at UGLY High Voltage, 500kv.

As far as I can tell it has never shuts off on the well  on over 100 degree days we have. Some time I wonder if it is pumping more on hot days. Since it fills the tank and power is not costing like hooked it the grid it runs over it runs the tank over most time I fill it.

So in my limited experience I would beg to differ about panels stopping on hot days.

Seriously guys that solar carp will never work! Dont get suckered into it!!!