State after state is finding that this whole “green energy” and net metering thing aren’t working out too well for the consumer
(Daily Caller) Connecticut is about to become the latest state to reform its expensive net metering program, saving money for the vast majority of electricity customers who do not own a solar installation.
Early Wednesday morning, the Connecticut state House passed Senate Bill 9 — legislation calling for a reduction in the amount of money solar panel owners are compensated for the energy they send back to the grid. The bill already passed the state Senate and outgoing Gov. Dan Malloy is expected to sign. Despite vehement opposition from the solar industry lobby, the bill sailedthrough both chambers of Connecticut’s legislature, passing the state Senate by a vote of 29-3 before passing the House 100-45 in the same week. Malloy, the state’s outgoing Democratic governor, is widely expected to turn the bill into law given his office introduced the measure.
Much similar to programs in other states, net metering encourages solar installation usage by forcing utility companies to purchase excess energy a panel owner sends back to the grid. Utility companies typically must purchase this energy at more expensive retail rates, not wholesale rates. The system is lucrative for solar panel owners who get paid more than their energy is worth, but these costs are essentially passed onto non-net metering customers by way of higher electricity bills.
The non-net metering customers are the vast majority of energy customers, who see their energy bills rise because the energy companies are forced to purchase electricity at the high rates, and that energy is virtually worthless, since it is extra energy not used during that time period and an unnecessary. Since solar is dependent on certain light conditions, it’s unreliable, so the energy companies have to have their usual energy (coal, nuclear, natural gas) which is reliable running at proper peak levels, so the solar is not needed.
If this whole solar thing was working super well, the home owners would simply store the energy for use when it’s not sunny.
Two-thousand-eighteen has not been a good year for supporters of net metering. Connecticut will soon become the latest in a growing number of states that have chosen to reform how the program works. On May 8, the Vermont Public Utility Commission determined the high rates given panel owners was costing other electricity customers too much. The Michigan Public Service Commission reached a similar conclusion in April — as did Maine in 2017.
This is yet another part of the Obama legacy that’s slowly being eroded. Sure, you can’t give him all the credit, because some of this stuff was going on before Obama, but, it really was O’s “green” push that jump started the majority of this scam. Will there be any positive achievements of consequence left? I can think of one.
I need to talk to an electrical engineer about this, but I suspect the net extra solar electricity doesn’t really “flow” back into the grid. So, in effect, the power companies are paying the solar homeowners and getting nothing in return.
In theory, the juice in the grid is at such a high voltage that it steps down several times to get to your house. Any juice added to it “down stream” is less than line loss and just disappears. It isn’t anything that the power companies can measure as a product that they can re-sell. If anything, it is an undesirable product because it is not a regulated flow but has spikes and dips according to the sunlight present. Not something your immediate neighbors will thank you for.
There are companies which will lease you ‘free’ solar panels to mount on your property. If they can make money doing this, then they must be able to get the generated sparktricity back into the grid.
Unless their business model depends solely on government authority forcing power companies to buy electricity back even though they can’t really make use of it. Just like forcing power companies to buy carbon credits. It’s how connected people get rich.
I was reading other articles about matching phases. If you don’t do it properly, the extra electricity you put into the grid actually cancels out electricity put there by the power companies. So, it’s a double negative. In effect, the power grid is simply acting as a sink hole for home generated power, and power companies forced to buy a product they can’t use.
Note that the Pyrite State just passed regulations which require new residential construction to come complete with installed solar panels. It’s just so much cheaper for states to mandate that homeowners buy them than it is to provide rebates and tax credits to people to encourage them to do so.