Cost of solar energy falls every time the sun rises

[jpak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/cost-of-solar-energy-falls-every-time-the-sun-rises/2016/04/20/5126e4ac-d4e0-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html

Installing solar panels on your roof is not just for tree-hugging environmentalists. The increasing ease of the process and the financial returns have made going solar practically mainstream.

Washingtonians are embracing solar power in a big way. In the District, residential solar installations have tripled since 2011, said Chelsea Barnes with EQ Research.

“By the end of 2020, the amount of installed solar capacity will be 300 percent higher than today,” said Dan Whitten, vice president of communications at the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Nationwide, it grew 10 times between 2008 and 2015.”

Sun shining on solar panels generates electricity that goes directly into your home’s breaker panel, which supplies electricity to power your appliances and devices.

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[brush]

1. I'm a big alternative energy fan, however, I live in Nevada . . .

where NV Energy, the power company monopoly, has just had it's puppet repugs in the state legislature push through a law that guts the solar power industry.

"The Nevada Public Utility Commission changed the deal that customers with solar panels have with the state’s big utility, NV Energy. At the request of NV Energy, monthly fees paid by rooftop solar customers will increase from $13 to nearly $40 by 2020. And the utility will slash its reimbursement to customers for each unit of energy they feed to the grid, from about 11 cents to less than 3 cents by 2020, which could add up to hundreds of dollars per year for customers with solar panels."

It's such a short-sighted decision driven by greed but it's stupid at the same time. NV Energy and other power companies through out the country should have, years ago, since they are in the power industry, taken the lead in alternate energy. Nevada should be the epicenter of alternate energy usage as we have huge expanses of land with sun just blazing down on it which could be generating energy. Many that don't live here don't know that we have a lot of wind here also, plus geothermal too.

We could have all three of those energy sources producing to help fill the others' respective gaps in production — when the sun's not out, wind power can and geothermal can contribute to the total energy pool and visa versa.

But as a result of the commission's decision, the solar energy companies have left the state and won't be eager to be wooed back, and the people who invested in solar panels for their homes are screwed and won't reap the return on invested promised.

This is a preview of what we are up against through out the country when alternate energy becomes competitive with the energy powers that be.

Guess we can expect the same kind of resistance from the oil companies as electric cars become more popular.