Utility giant announces solar plants in the heart of coal country

[jpak]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/utility-giant-announces-solar-plants-in-the-heart-of-coal-country/article/2628705

Duke Energy, one of the country's largest coal utilities, announced Friday that it will build three large solar power plants in the coal mining state of Kentucky to complement its coal and natural gas power plants.

"Our customers want solar," said Jim Henning, president of Duke Energy's Ohio and Kentucky division, in announcing the new solar power projects.

The three projects will include 19,000 solar panels spread across 170 acres in Kenton and Grant counties.

Henning explained that it's the "right time" to build solar because the cost "has come down significantly in recent years, making it more cost-competitive with other sources of power generation." In addition, solar "gives us the ability to add power capacity in incremental steps – allowing us to match the growing demand for electricity in the region."

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[msongs]

1. rooftop solar not corporate solar. it is out sun, not theirs nt

[Blue_true]

2. Practically. I think big solar farms will carry the day.

You are better off fighting on rates reform with solar.

The average John and Jane Doe won't pay for a home solar installation or do the installation themselves. They would rather get energy off the grid. Home solar installation is headed toward being a novelty item used for isolated structures where power lines are too expensive. The big solar cell array companies are getting most of their sales from big solar farms. That is the sad reality.

I long for something else. Risk takers pushed solar to commercial reality. Those risk takers were environmentalists. But once money is in something and a clean buck can be made, the biggies push their way in. Happening with solar. Happened to the kid lab Muppets, who now are owned by Disney and are called a franchise. Have you tried to download popular old songs lately? Aggregators like Apple have bought song rights and are removing free music from the web. You pay now or listen to a shitty quality rendition.

[csziggy]

3. I planned to put on rooftop solar and did put in a rooftop solar water heater.

The problem is that the panels need to be cleaned periodically. I have not found anyone willing to climb up on our metal roof to clean off the panel for our water heater. It has a layer of black scum on it now, after ten years, that reduces the efficiency. During the summer it still heats water far hotter than we need, but in the winter that layer of scum cuts the temperature below what we need.

For photovoltaic, the maintenance needs are much higher. I'd be happy to have rooftop if I could have a service that would come in every year or two to clean the panels and check the installation. But given the difficulty in finding reliable service people, I would be happy to go a different route for energy production. I don't particularly want a field full of panels and the need for cleaning and servicing will be the same, even though it might be less hazardous.

Now there is a business opportunity - install the panels and have clients hook up for maintenance. Or lease the panels to them for a period that would cover the installation and initial cost.