The Sadness of Solar Power -- USA-only version

[Viktor]

The saddest part of all that solar business is absence of transparency and obvious competition. When I wanted to install new furnace - picked up a phone and had 3 guys from different companies with different products within a week. Another week to compare and negotiate a price - and new furnace installed. Not so with solar panels - cant even get them to give me the price on the panels I want to install. If I am to choose another contractor for awning installation - I will automatically loose their warranty. My local company just sent me an email after the second request - "As for your requests, module prices fluctuate so much, that I wouldn't want to give you a price today, and then not be able to honor those prices in the near future. Pricing fluctuates with module size, back sheet color, and with the market".
And few lines later - "In order to get you a hard price, we can enter into a design contract, at $75/ hour, to determine exactly what you will need. These typically take around 5 hours or so" - what just happened to prices fluctuation and market?
Tried looking up solar contractors at the local Craigslist - cant even find one - with the exception of the big ones.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Out of the Sadness comes a Ray of Hope (you GOTTA see this!)

http://grist.org/news/coal-museum-installs-solar-panels-to-save-money-obviously/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Viktor]

"Meanwhile, in America, the coal industry reminds us that solar panels are what Satan uses to turn Americans into communists"

Enough said :lol:

 

[DaveEV]

The saddest part of all that solar business is absence of transparency and obvious competition.
...
Tried looking up solar contractors at the local Craigslist - cant even find one - with the exception of the big ones.

Not surprisingly, solar contractors are all over the place here in CA. Of course many of these go out of business but there are a few which have stuck around for a while. You might try 1bog.org - they appear to have a deal in your area and I was satisfied with their process and pricing when I was looking to have solar installed a couple years ago (no affiliation with them, I'm not even going to use their "refer-a-friend" link!).

 

[cwerdna]

Not sure if this has been posted yet but I was unaware of this crazy garbage going on until today. I'm somehow not surprised at some of the players behind this absurdity.

EV drivers beware, ALEC is coming for your solar power:
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/12/23/alec-coming-for-home-solar-power/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ALEC, a group of about 800 people that includes such notables as ex-vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, appears to be going after any and all things related to renewable energy, and that includes people who install their own home solar panels and sell their excess power back to the grid. In fact, ALEC not only is saying these people shouldn't be paid for the energy, but believes they should pay for the privilege of sending energy back to the grid because they don't have to pay for the grid's infrastructure.

The above links to http://grist.org/climate-energy/alec-calls-for-penalties-on-free-rider-solar-panel-users/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, w/more details.

 

[smkettner]

Some day the grid will beg for us to not install a storage device and pull the plug completely.
I think this will happen in my lifetime. Grid will be left with mostly just large commercial users.

 

[AndyH]