Subject: PV costs MORE?

From: J Eyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 03:10:04 GMT

Marge wonders...
>I am curious about why the people who have PV panels installed on their
>roofs have to pay more for their electricity.  It ought to be the other
>way around?

Well Marge, its surprising that it is only a token amount more,
considering the fact that pv ENERGY production cost (yes, granted, as
defined using environmentally insensitive traditional financial
criteria) is 3 - 5 times higher than that from almost any other
electricity generation technology.  So why shouldn't the person with pv
pay THREE TIMES more?  (By the way, I assume you mean utility-owned pv.)

My conclusion, grid connected pv may be very difficult to justify, in
most cases, on sound economic bases.  (Nope, not even if you give a 100%
credit for pvs' "green" electrons over those disgusting "black"
electrons or those despicable "glowing" electrons.)

One other theory, perhaps it's another manifestation of that pervasive,
insidious conspiracy to keep pv and renewables at bay.  More later...

Jim; (PhD. 20th Century Butlerian Philosophy)

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From: [email-masked] (David Coote)
Date: Fri, 26 May 95 10:42:16 PST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] 
says...
[snip]

>insidious conspiracy to keep pv and renewables at bay.  More later...

I was discussing this with someone the other day and we both agreed that 
it wouldn't be a conspiracy for some organisations to retard the 
development of PVs. Rather it is a good old fashioned, what made this 
country great, solid business like decision to extract as much as 
possible out of hairy chested fuel sources like oil and uranium instead 
of wimpy, pinko, slimeball stuff like photons from the Sun.

On a more serious note, I would be very interested if anyone can put this 
conspiracy stuff on the price of PVs to rest one way or the other. Of 
course, it is a bit hard to convince conspiracy buffs that their favorite 
pet peeve has been dealt with but I would be interested to see the 
arguments either way. Preferably without involving Elvis.